Rody rants cast bad light, solon says

Garin said that accountability and responsibility for every statement are not peculiar practices for every public official, particularly those who once held the highest post of the land.

The relentless rants of former president Rodrigo Duterte against his successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., cast the Philippines in a bad light on the international stage.

This was the reaction of House Deputy Majority Leader Janette Garin to Duterte’s recent tirades, the latest of which was that Marcos’s globetrotting was just for leisure.

“Statements like that can actually diminish the respect of other countries for our country,” Garin said. It is not President BBM’s image being tainted; it is the entire Philippines, the Filipino people, being defamed.”

While Garin acknowledged that Duterte is candid by nature, she contended that the former president must learn to weigh his statements before addressing them to the public because doing so has downsides. Worse, they could come out wrong.

“Whether you are supportive of the administration or you are against the administration, what’s important is that as a former president, you should know your responsibility with every word you say. Because it has an impact on the public,” Garin stressed.

She said, “It just needs to be deciphered because even when he was president, sometimes he would make candid jokes, then he forgets that due to his stature, his statements become official.”

Garin said that accountability and responsibility for every statement are not peculiar practices for every public official, particularly those who once held the highest post of the land.

Deputy Majority Leader for Communications Erwin Tulfo, however, said Duterte’s remarks should be taken lightly given his personality of one who likes to crack jokes.

“Haven’t we gotten used to the president? I mean six years... aren’t we all surprised that the moment he assumed the post, was he serious? Wasn’t he?” Tulfo remarked.

“So, we should have memorized already, especially in the media, what a joke is and what reality is. Most of what the president says is a joke,” added Tulfo, a former journalist.

During a recent rally at the Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila, Duterte insinuated that Marcos was just making foreign or international state visits for leisure.

This was not the first time Duterte had thrown shade at his successor.

At a prayer rally against Charter change in Davao City in January, Duterte accused Marcos of being “bangag” (stoned) and a “drug addict,” whose name, he alleged, was on the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s drug watch list.

Marcos, however, disputed Duterte’s latest tirade.

“We don’t go sightseeing. Even in the places that I spent a lot of time in, I have not been able to visit the places that I used to visit. Because we’re here to work,” said Marcos on his recent trip to Germany.

Marcos has traveled to 24 countries since he assumed office in June 2022. His ongoing state visit to Prague, Czech Republic, marked his 25th.