Duterte should stop allowing himself to be baited by media and the West

While I agree that the hypocritical and meddlesome EU deserved the F U, President Duterte should have known better and restrained himself because he was being baited.

The media, the NGOs, and reps of western governments take turns goading him and laying traps so he will have more epic rants that they can broadcast, and each time, he is stupid enough to swallow the bait. He doesn’t even know he’s being played.

The problem with Duterte is his old school, uncivilized approach to conflict management. Unlike Lee Kuan Yew, he doesn’t know how to express his anger in a forceful but intelligent way. Lee Kuan Yew’s jabs at his critics were far more lethal than Duterte’s cheap cussing, yet LKW knew how to slap his enemies down with class, so people (including westerners) did not lose respect for him.

Duterte, on the other hand, is a palengkero. He doesn’t know the graceful but deadly, martial-arts style of fighting. He just thrashes about and throws random punches while frothing in the mouth.

Worse, he doesn’t know how to pick his battles.

Yesterday, while the House of Reps was still conducting the first hearing on the Bilibid drug trade, Duterte started ranting about Leila de Lima again while giving a speech that was being televised live. This was incredibly stupid and careless, for two reasons.

First, every time he personally bashes De Lima, he lowers himself to her level in the eyes of the public. And De Lima, at this point, is lower than a sewer rat in the eyes of the public. Second, the House probe was going very well, and many credible and damning revelations about De Lima’s links to drug lords had come out, but those revelations lost momentum in the news, because they were bumped off by Duterte’s ill-timed rant against the EU.

There was also a report that Duterte said in a speech that he can personally cross-examine Matobato to prove he was lying. Imagine that, the President of the Philippines challenging a bottom-dwelling lowlife criminal like Matobato who had already been discredited. This was beyond stupid.

President Duterte, Matobato already destroyed his own credibility with his inconsistencies and lies that were exposed in the media. There is no need to defend yourself. You only cheapened yourself and your position by personally reacting to that piece of garbage. Furthermore, the House probe on the Bilibid drug trade is already being handled very well, and formal charges against Leila de Lima are practically guaranteed given the weight of the witness testimonies. The only thing that can derail the case now is your own dirty undisciplined mouth. Stop talking about De Lima. Every time you talk about her, she boosts her chances of getting support from the western media. They empathize with her because they hate you, understand?

I support President Duterte, and I believe he can do a lot of good for the Philippines. But if he keeps stupidly swallowing the bait that his enemies throw at him, we will all be in trouble. Duterte keeps saying he is ready to lose the presidency anytime, but we, the Filipino people, are not ready. We will be the ones to suffer if he doesn’t last. If the yellows succeed in ousting him because he can’t control his mouth, this country will be in deep, deep sh*t. The yellows and the drug lords will come back and start running the show again, and at that point there won’t be anyone capable who can save us.

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