Word war between Duterte and Roxas, on again

Presidential candidates Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte (left) and Manuel “Mar” Roxas resume ‘word war’.
(Photo from the official Facebook pages of Duterte and Roxas)

MANILA—Presidential candidates Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte and Manuel “Mar” Roxas II threw slurs against each other again, over a month after they announced ceasefire from their ‘word war’.

In a press conference on Sunday, Duterte called Roxas a “zombie” while the Davao mayor recalled the Interior and Local Government Secretary’s appearance after the Super Typhoon Haiyan hit the country.

“I was there day two. Si Mar parang zombie rin. Hindi malaman kung ano ang sasabihin. Nag-drama ka, nagbisikleta ka, natumba ka saka kumain ng kanin sa baso, how stupid can you get? (I was there day two. Mar was like a zombie too. He doesn’t know what to say. You created drama, you biked, you fell and ate rice in a cup, how stupid can you get?)” Duterte said.

Duterte also called Roxas “crazy” for saying that he was “all work and no drama” in his political ad that aired in national television.

“He’s claiming that he’s no drama, but if he is not crazy, he ate rice in a cup. How stupid can you get? A cup is for water, a plate is for eating rice,” Duterte was quoted as saying in a Standard report.

“If he does not really engage in drama, he should not be in that commercial to begin with,” he added.

Meanwhile, Roxas responded to Duterte by saying that the latter is only using him to be more prominent in the May 9 presidential poll.

“Mayor Duterte is just fourth in the surveys,” Roxas said in the same report.

“He said before that he didn’t want to talk with the candidate in the fourth spot, but now he’s in fourth place,” he added.

In December last year, the two presidential candidates engaged in a ‘word war’ following Duterte’s accusation of Roxas lying about being a Wharton graduate. Roxas responded to Duterte by asking the Mayor to engage in a slap-fight. Duterte suggested gun duel, instead. Days later, the two agreed on a ceasefire only to resume a more than a month later.