Our own son of a bitch

By Al S. Mendoza

 

SUDDENLY, the issue is Duterte.

Meaning, this election has become either a Duterte or not.

Whether we like or not, Duterte has become the hottest topic of conversation.

He has become a rock star of sorts.

In restaurants and barbershops, in the parks and beauty parlors, it’s Duterte as aperitif, main course and dessert rolled into one.

He has become the flavor of the month.

With just one slip of the tongue, Duterte has sparked a prairie fire.

It has spread worldwide, his foul-mouthed behavior now the center of his persona.

Because of his rape joke, forgotten are all campaign pitches of his rivals.

Overshadowed are the foolish ululations of his political foes on their platforms of government that are nothing but run-of-the-mill.  Crass clichés.

It’s all Duterte from Laoag to Legazpi, from Bacolod to Basilan, from Kalinga to Kidapawan.

Nobody talks about Binay being corrupt anymore.

Nobody digs up on Poe’s questionable citizenship and residency status anymore.

Nobody zeroes in on Roxas’s admittedly flawed, if not downright crooked, daang matuwid anymore.

And Santiago?

Ah, never mind.

She’s become so invisible no one knows anymore if she’s still running or not.

The thing is, all talk these days is about Duterte.

Anywhere you go, it’s Duterte, Duterte and Duterte.

It was like that a few weeks ago.

Duterte badmouths Pope Francis and he gets bashed endlessly.

But after a little while, the people forgive.

They re-embrace the black sheep back, as will a mother to a returning son after the son had strayed into the wrong path.

And then he does it again.

Seeing the corpse of a dead, 36-year-old Australian missionary, earlier gang-raped by prisoners in Davao in 1989, Duterte says: “The mayor should have been first.”

He gets ganged up in no time.  But, of course.

You know the reason why.

It’s no joke to trivialize rape.

Besides, you are running for president.

You are supposed to behave at all times.

Not Duterte. With him, what you see is what you get.

Duterte has since apologized for this biggest slip of his.

But this time, some are proving to be un-appeased.

And to them, Duterte appeals:  “I may have a dirty mouth, but I can give you a clean government.”

Before this storm, Duterte surged on top of practically all surveys done nationwide.

I do not believe in surveys but if the surveys are any gauge, Duterte seemed headed to a landslide win in the May 9 polls.

If the succeeding surveys will show Duterte losing the lead, no one should be surprised.

One pundit has asked:  “Can Duterte be saved?”

Of course.

Besides being a forgetful lot, we are also very forgiving.

The nation now knows fully well that Duterte is a bastard, almost the epitome of a mother’s perennial problem child.

But then, he maybe a bitch but, as the saying goes, he is still our own son of a bitch.

Take him or leave him.

(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)

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