VOL. 9 ISSUE 177 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, OCTOBER 30 - 31, 2016
EDGEDAVAO www.edgedavao.net
P 15.00 • 20 PAGES
Serving a seamless society
IN BLOOM. A worker harvest chrysanthemums at the King Toto Flower Farm of the Puentespina Farms in the hinterland village of Carmen in Davao City ahead of this year’s All Souls’ Day celebration. (KEITH BACONGCO)
I’M DONE WITH CUSSING: RODY EDGE By FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA
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O more cussing. This was the vow made by President Duterte to God and the Filipino people in a Davao news conference upon his return from his three-day state visit to Japan. According to the President, he heard a voice on board the aircraft as everybody was fast asleep. “Everybody was asleep, snoring, but a voice said that, ‘You know, if you don’t stop epithets, I will bring this plane down now,’” he narrated. Mr. Duterte said that he even asked the voice who he was, and it was later on when he realized that it was God
speaking to him. “So, I promise God to -not to express [my thoughts through] slang, cuss words and everything,” he said. The President pointed out that a promise made to God is also a promise made to the Filipino people. This is the reason, he added, why as President of the Republic, he must keep his word, and do away with his habit of cursing. To recall, Mr. Duterte has thrown expletives at the Pope for causing a gridlock in Manila; at President Obama and the United States government for raising the issue of extra
judicial killings (EJKs) against him; and the European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN) for also questioning the spate of EJKs in the country. When asked if the public can expect him to stop cursing the United Nations, US, EU and Senator Leila De Lima, he exclaimed, “There is always a time for everything.” “If you know me, ask anyone who really knows me. There’s always a time, there’s always a timing, a time for everything, a time to be a foul mouthed...I do not want anyone reading my mind,” he said. Mr. Duterte is known for his profanity-laced language,
which has drawn sharp criticism from various sectors who contend that a leader of such stature as the President should be more circumspect in his choice of words. The President, however, has previously explained that his manner of speaking is in fact part of his strategy to keep his opponent off-balanced, and make them guess his next move. In an interview during the campaign trail, Mr. Duterte said that cussing is his way of getting across his message to the people, and demonstrating that he is just an ordinary Joe just like them.
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