Bishop David puts a face to the mother in ‘p ***** ina’: his mom’s

BISHOP Virgilio David of Caloocan City did what Pope Francis, then US president Barack Obama, Sen. Antonio Trillanes and many others cursed by President Duterte did not do.

David showed to the public that his mother, Bienvenida SiongcoDavid (1922-2000), was not a whore. The bishop said his mom was awarded as “ulirang ina,” a model mother who produced 13 professionals who have been assets to the country and haven’t helped drag it down.

At the PDP-Laban campaign rally Tuesday, April 2, the president called Bishop David “p ***** ina” (whore of a mother) for allegedly attacking him from a pulpit. The next day, the bishop posted his denial on social media, saying he didn’t use the pulpit for attacking Duterte. Unless, David said, the President thought that the bishop’s call to end the violence and extrajudicial killings in the diocese was an attack against the person and the office. on target than “p**ang ina.” Though in hurling the obscenity, it also publicly shames the mother or her memory, and thus inflicts more pain on the child or children insulted.

Why he curses

President Duterte on many occasions used the “P.I.” slander on people he hates or, more accurately, when he talks about people he despises. Often his cursing is explained as “his style, his way of expressing himself,” more of vulgarity in language than love to inflict pain on others.

Last Dec. 4, 2015, he said he cussed because “I cannot help my mouth when I see people oppressed, hungry and deprived.” In effect, he admitted it’s his bad though the purported sympathy for others may not justify the cursi n g.

And he wanted to stop it, he said. He even put up money for a swear jar from which would be paid P1,000 for each expletive he’d utter. That fund must have been exhausted already since he has cursed a lot more since then.

More plausible is that he lashes out at people when they criticize his war on illegal drugs or on anything else. Sen. Franklin Drilon, last Friday, April 5, gave him unwanted advice on government contracts. He cussed and more: he threatened to declare a revolutionary government.

But here’s the thing about the bishop’s mom. When Duterte spewed out the curse, David and his siblings winced in pain. Not every man or woman whose mother is presidentially slammed thinks the obscenity is just harmless rant.

Risk of criticizing

That should make other leaders who do not agree with presidential policy or action ask: How could they express disagreement, an essential facet of democracy, without having themselves and their mothers being bad-mouthed?

Once, in his 2015 explanation about his cussing, the President told his audience he dreamed that his mother Soledad Roa Duterte (1916-2012) told him “to stop it, Rodrigo,” referring to the obscene words and apparently the bullyi n g.

Next time Bishop David might include in his post a photo of the late Mrs. Duterte, captioned by a repetition of the motherly chiding, “Stop it, Rodrigo.”