Great speech, lousy speaker
It was perhaps the greatest speech Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ever delivered in his life. And by that I mean the speech in its written form, not how it was delivered. As the president spoke before the United Nations General Assembly in the wee hours of morning (2 a.m. September 23 PHL time), I got to read the full text of his speech before I saw the replay of him delivering it.
And boy was the chasm wide between the text and the vocals and visuals. I mean the speech was superb in both content and construction. It sent a message that was crisp, clear, and convincing. Notorious for going off-script or completely ignoring copy, this was the one speech that you thank the heavens for allowing Duterte to stick to each and every word that was laid out before him.
But, oh, what a miserable delivery. Duterte looked as if he was struggling through every line. At times he seemed to wrestle with a word before being able to spit it out. He was flat. He was monotonous. Watching him agonize through the speech, I actually sort of expected him to gag and collapse from such a strenuous undertaking. I could almost see Leni Robredo beside her phone, getting ready to dress up.
But God, it seemed, did not leave Duterte's side. He stuck with his "favorite" sinner, coaxing him along to the final thank yous, allowing Duterte to land his heavy load with his dignity intact. But I really do suspect Duterte had diarrhea afterward, as must have the rest of his team who, I think, unofficially broke the world record for the longest collectively-held breath.
Actually, Duterte is not really a bad speaker, especially when he goes off-script, or throws away the script altogether. In fact, the best speech I ever saw and heard from him was his May 29, 2018 commencement speech before the graduating Law class of his alma mater San Beda. He went on for 99% of the time joking. The remaining 1% of the time he spent reading the prepared speech which he eventually threw away.
But last Wednesday was just a terrible disappointment. To say he did not do justice to a great speech is an understatement. More like he chomped on it like a horse would hay. Thank God the speech was great, and the message it conveyed was powerful. At least there was no way anyone who heard would ignore it. In fact the global media feasted on it.
One Philippine senator described the speech as worthy of an Emmy. I do not know about the Emmy since it was the written text that was great and not the performance of its deliverer nor the technical aspects of the televised event. Still, I go along wholeheartedly with the senator who said the speech writers deserve the highest congratulations.
As far as enunciating both domestic and foreign policy before a rapt audience of almost all the world's leaders, including Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, it was a speech far superior than all the State of the Nation addresses Duterte has ever delivered or yet to deliver. Too bad Duterte does not speak like a Marcos, or a Ninoy, or a Gerry Roxas.