Does Duterte need an image make-over?

By: Leila B. Salaverria - 9 years ago

Rodrigo Duterte answers questions from reporters at Greenhills, San Juan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Watching his language may help Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte in the presidential race.

Duterte should still be himself but he should moderate his statements, according to Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, president of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).

Duterte, the PDP-Laban standard-bearer, is known for his penchant for cursing and using salty language, which forms part of his image as a tough guy and iron-fisted ruler of Davao City. Duterte has also boasted about killing criminals.

Asked in a recent interview whether his party’s candidate needed an image make-over, Pimentel said Duterte would not require extreme change.

“Be yourself, but everything in moderation,” he said.

The PDP-Laban would help Duterte’s campaign by providing him with support and advice on how to run for a national post, if he wants it, according to the senator.

Checklist

The party would also provide him with a checklist of what it knows based on the usual practices and from experience.

But if Duterte does not want to take the advice, Pimentel said he had no problem with it. He noted that he himself had rejected some advice given to him when he ran for the legislature.

One thing he could advise Duterte was to lessen the use of cuss words and the mention of killings in his statements. The mayor could use other scenarios, aside from killing criminals, to illustrate his point, he said.

“I won’t tell him to eliminate cursing. Maybe just don’t do it 100 times,” he said.

Aired all over

He said that as a candidate for President, Duterte’s statements were picked up and aired all over the nation. He should be conscious of the audience, which could include children, he added.

Pimentel said he would share with Duterte the things he learned when he ran for a national post, including the strategic areas to visit.

Duterte is the substitute candidate of PDP-Laban after Martin Diño, its first standard-bearer, withdrew amid claims he was among the 100 “nuisance” candidates for President in the 2016 general elections.

Sought for an update yesterday, Pimentel said he had already imparted his advice to Duterte. It would be up to the mayor if he wanted to heed it, he said.

The PDP-Laban president said he and Duterte’s camp were now focused on preparing for the campaign and discussing how they would structure it.

The numbers of Duterte in surveys on voters’ preferred candidate for President have dropped significantly after PDP-Laban proclaimed him its presidential candidate on Nov. 30.

Jokes, expletives

In a speech during the proclamation, which lasted two hours and was televised nationally, Duterte cracked jokes and anecdotes laced with expletives while giving a preview of his platform of government.

He even cursed Pope Francis after he was trapped in heavy traffic when he was in Manila during the Holy Father’s visit last January.

The fallout from the cursing was quick.

In a noncommissioned Pulse Asia survey conducted from Dec. 4 to 11, Duterte was the choice of 23 percent of the 1,800 respondents. He was behind Vice President Jejomar Binay, who was on top with 33 percent.

In a survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) from Dec. 12 to 14, Duterte was favored by just 20 percent of the 1,200 respondents, placing him fourth.

Binay and Sen. Grace Poe were tied, each earning the nod of 26 percent. President Aquino’s anointed, Mar Roxas, was in third place with 22 percent.

Leading candidate

Before his proclamation, a special SWS survey from Nov. 26 to 28 found that Duterte was the leading candidate with 38 percent.

The survey, however, was widely criticized as “flawed” because of a “leading” question prefaced with Duterte becoming a presidential candidate. The survey was commissioned by a Davao businessman.

After drawing flak for criticizing the Pope and the Church, Duterte explained that his “joke” was not intended against the Pontiff as it targeted the government for failing to solve traffic congestion in Metro Manila.

Apology, guarded talk

He then apologized to Church officials in a meeting with Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles and Bishop George Rimando. After the meeting, Duterte told reporters he would practice “guarded talk.”

He said he would fine himself P1,000 for every cuss word he uttered during the campaign and would donate the money to Caritas Davao.

But even before the interview was over, Duterte had already uttered two cuss words.

Word war with Roxas

Another controversy Duterte found himself in was in December when a word war between him and Roxas escalated.

Duterte said he would slap Roxas when he saw him after the former interior secretary claimed Davao City was not at all peaceful as the mayor had boasted.

The mayor retorted by saying Roxas was lying about being a Wharton graduate. Roxas countered saying he would slap the mayor if he could prove that he was a Wharton graduate.

Asked if the slapping challenge between him and Roxas was a manly act, Duterte quickly said: “Let’s have a gunfight instead… rich people are afraid to die,” the mayor said.