DID YOU HEAR WHAT WE HEARD?

LESS THAN NEWS, MORE THAN RUMOR

WOMEN VS. TRUMP; DUTERTE'S ‘HEAVEN'

President Trump’s staff tangles with U.S. media over size of the crowd at his inaugural. The women’s march in Washington the day after was three times bigger, crowd experts say. Not so, says the White House.

What annoys Trump, the Guardian says, is that he hates women unless he wants to have sex with them or it’s Ivanka. The massing of women protesters symbolizes the bodies he loathes except as sex objects.

And Malacañang compares Duterte to Trump: a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?

BEING PRESIDENT AND...

President Duterte’s “heaven” is being a billionaire and a president and having a beautiful and sexy wife like Melania Trump. Not with the problems of a nation on your shoulders.

BATO AND CRITICS

Criticisms against PNP chief Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, hurled by a number of congressmen and senators, range from clowning to making outrageous statements. He enhances his high profile by being in places where a police chief is not normally expected: hamming up for the cameras at a concert or watching a boxing bout abroad.

A recent serious breach, however, was when he continued partying for his birthday even after news broke that a Korean businessman, victim of kidnapping for ransom, was strangled to death near his White House inside the police headquarters Camp Crame.

Any public official sensitive to public opinion must know what riles up Filipinos most: unconcern or festivity amid an occasion for outrage or grief.

LUST FOR SOUND BITES

PNP chief Bato de la Rosa’s critics assail his propensity for sound bites: to say the few words that would land in the six o’clock news or the following day’s papers.

In other words, he wants to get attention, which his critics have noted must indicate that he might seek elective office in the future. He could run for senator.

Sen. Ping Lacson did it. Bato could. The theory is that Bato is just copying his boss and idol who got national attention by cracking jokes and making outrageous statements.

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