Duterte to visit the Vatican

Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte, despite his display of bravado that has become his trademark, has been photographed crying like a child.

The scene was in Tacloban City four days after Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” the world’s most powerful storm on record, hit land.

The mayor had taken a helicopter from Davao City to Tacloban, a four-hour trip,  and went around the city  which looked like  it was destroyed by an atomic bomb.

Duterte was seen crying inconsolably in a corner of a house, unmindful of the children looking at him.

The mayor, seeing many dead bodies in the streets and survivors walking around like zombies, was obviously overcome by emotion.

The person who took the photo,    one of the Yolanda survivors, had shown it to me on condition that I would not identify him.

“Maaram ngay-an hiya magtuok (So he also knows how to cry),” said my source.

I brought this up to show the other side of the controversial mayor who has admitted ordering the execution of hardened criminals and drug traffickers and pushers in his city.

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The biggest problems the country now faces are crime and drugs. Both are interrelated.

Many heinous crimes—such as robbery, murder and rape—are committed by persons “high” on methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly known as “shabu,” a favorite among drug addicts.

In Metro Manila, the most thickly populated area in the country with the highest crime rate, 92 percent of the barangays have been invaded by drug pushers and addicts.

If the authorities are unable to come up with solutions to this problem, the Philippines will become another Colombia or Mexico where the drug cartel has tentacles in all branches of government and in many sectors of society.

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Of all the presidential candidates—Duterte, Vice President Jojo Binay, Sen. Mar Roxas, Sen. Grace Poe, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago and party-list Rep. Roy Señeres—only Duterte has promised to stop crime, drugs and graft and corruption if he gets elected.

Duterte says he would eliminate crime and the drug menace within six months after being sworn into office.

However, he didn’t give a time frame stopping graft and corruption.

But abusive and corrupt government personnel can take   a cue from the execution of hardened criminals, drug traffickers or pushers and mend their wicked ways.

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Let me let you in on a secret: Duterte is going to the Vatican to seek an audience with Pope Francis to ask forgiveness.

The foul-mouthed mayor, whose statements are punctuated by expletives, cursed the Pope for creating a huge traffic jam during his visit to Manila last year.

He has since regretted the unacceptable behavior.

An insider in the Duterte camp said the mayor will still go to the Vatican even if the Pope doesn’t give him an audience as an act of contrition.