DUTERTE THE P AS IN ‘PROBLEM’

President Duterte is a popular leader because he is doing and talking of a lot of things that concern and really matter to ordinary people. Filipinos approve the way he is waging his war on drugs.

People cheer the changes in many fronts that ease some of the burdens of the working class.

They like the lesser and shorter queues, lesser red tape and bureaucratic arrogance in many government offices, longer validity of driver’s licenses and passports. They are expecting and waiting for the realization of President Duterte’s promises of lesser taxes, better pay and better working conditions for government and private workers.

He is highly popular but at the same time also very controversial.

The President is controversial not because of the press or media. The media can only report and interpret what they see and hear.

Real controversies are not and cannot be imagined or manufactured by media. Controversies stem from actions and words—in particular, of a person being covered by media. President Duterte is controversial not because he is corrupt or wicked, and he is definitely not dumb or stupid.

It is also debatable whether his mindset or positions on many issues are flawed or wrong, or whether he is crazy or not. It is debatable because you can never be sure whether he is joking or not, whether he is serious or not.

President Duterte is controversial because he has a very, very big ego and clearly likes the attention he is getting. He doesn’t care ( or “I don’t give a shit,” he often says) whether he has denied, flip- flopped or forgotten many of his statements. He obviously delights in talking the way he does and making outrageous claims and statements left and right, sure that local and world media will feast on them.

In short, our President talks or sings too much.

Our problem is that, most of the time, he is out-of-tune and his timing is way, way off.

MELDOS CASTELO, balayeno@gmail.com