After macho talk, Duterte ready to debate

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—There’s one fight Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is looking forward to, and it’s not the slapping challenge, nor the gun duel with rival candidate Mar Roxas but a verbal jousting with all fellow presidential wanna-bes.

“When the political campaign starts, I will debate with them on any matter under the sun,” Duterte said in a talk with reporters on Monday night.

Told about the clamor of some sectors for him and Roxas to stop the word war and instead discuss issues, he replied, “You better watch out.”

Duterte earlier said he would slap Roxas when he sees the former interior secretary after the standard-bearer of the administration claimed Davao City was not at all peaceful as the mayor boasted.

Roxas cited police data that said Davao’s crime volume for 2014 was more than 14,000. The city police had since corrected him, saying Roxas counted nonindex crimes, or crimes solved through regular law enforcement activities such as serving of warrants against those charged in courts.

The mayor admitted that Roxas was a close friend, who allegedly engaged in black propaganda when reports about Duterte was running for President came out. Duterte said Roxas’ publicist was behind stories that the mayor had cancer.

It turned out that it is the mayor’s former wife, Elizabeth, who has throat cancer.

Roxas denied that his camp was behind the story.

After Roxas described as a myth the peace and order situation in Davao City, Duterte retorted by saying his being a Wharton graduate was the real myth.

Roxas claims to be a graduate of Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Duterte, however, said Roxas graduated from University of Pennsylvania, and not from Wharton.

“Wharton is for MBA. He did not take up MBA,” the mayor said. “This guy is a fraud,” he said.

The word war escalated after Roxas said he would slap the mayor if he could prove that he is a Wharton graduate.

When asked on Monday night if the slapping challenge between him and Roxas was a manly act, Duterte quickly said: “Let’s have a gun fight instead … rich people are afraid to die,” the mayor said. Nico Alconaba, Inquirer Mindanao