Piñol hits media for being fixated on Duterte’s foul words, jokes

President Duterte says a lot of outrageous things but beyond those are “gems,” one of the Cabinet secretaries said on Tuesday.

In an interview with INQ and A,  Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol came to the defense of Duterte as he took a swipe at some news outlets for reporting the President’s inconsequential jokes rather than focusing on his good pronouncements.

“Sometimes he says outrageous things, but beyond the outrageous things that he says actually are gems,” he said.

Saying the media only misunderstand the President, Piñol mentioned an Inquirer report about President Duterte recalling how he spanks his female security officer with his folder whenever he feels stressed at work.

READ: Duterte tells law graduates how he spanks female cops

“When we were in Cagayan Valley, he said a lot of jokes but he had one statement: ‘You know what, I think you should review your planting calendar because right now tinatamaan kayo ng bagyo (you are being hit by typhoons).’ But nobody cares about that. No one would report about it the following morning,” he deplored.

Piñol, a former North Cotabato governor who was among those who encouraged Duterte to run for president, said he spoke with the President about his observation on how the media report his statements.

He told the President that they should get someone who would only “get the gems” and report his good statements “outside the inconsequential jokes that are often misunderstood.”