Panelo says Duterte won’t stop ‘dramatizing’ remarks, won’t apologize over ‘touching’ a maid story

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivers his speech after leading the ceremonial distribution of Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA) to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) of Cotabato Province, at the Provincial Gymnasium Capitol Compound in Kidapawan City, Cotabato on December 29, 2018. ALBERT ALCAIN/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

Filipino people will probably hear more controversial statements from President Rodrigo Duterte as he will not stop ‘dramatizing’ his remarks as he thinks this catches the public’s attention and this allows him to deliver his message effectively.

“If you notice the President has been doing that even during the campaign and that has been very effective on the listeners,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo told reporters in a Palace briefing on Thursday, January 3.

“Klaro din ‘yung mensahe. Kaya sa tingin ko he will no stop at doing this kasi nakikita niyang effective, naiintidihan siya (The message is clear. That is why I think he will not stop at doing this because he sees it as effective and that people understand him),” he added.

Panelo was referring to the statement of Duterte last December 29 where he revealed that when he was a teenager, he molested their household helper who was then sleeping. His latest statement drew flak from various organizations, including women’s group Gabriela, who found the President’s story as “deeply disturbing.”

Even being in the hot waters for such remarks, Panelo said Duterte will not apologize for it as his story was just his way of criticizing the “hypocrisy” of some members of the clergy, specifically the priest who sexually abused him when he was young.

“Precisely, sinadya niya nga ‘yon kaya sinasabi niya (he intended to say that); that was intentionally made. It was a concocted story to dramatize the hypocrisy of that particular man in the cloth,” he said.

The spokesman also does not believe that Duterte’s statement, whether it was made up or not, will encourage violence against women.

“I don’t think so because it was dramatized in such a way that audience will laugh. But even that, the message is not lost on the listeners. Alam nila na merong mensahe si Presidente kahit na dinaan niya sa pagpapatawa sa kanila (They know the President has a message although he said it in a way that makes them laugh),” Panelo explained.

Duterte’s statement, the spokesman said, was only a problem to those “ultraconservatives” and his critics who only find fault in Duterte’s actions, adding that the President’s story was not even obscene.

“Hindi naman mahalay ‘yung kwento niya, nagtatawanan nga. Alam mo ‘pag mahalay, ang reaction ng audience ay masama, magagalit sa kanya (His story was not obscene, they even laughed at it. You know if it was obscene, the reaction of the audience will be bad, they will get angry at him),” the Palace official stressed.

The President had been criticized by several government officials, women’s rights groups, and some for his actions and remarks against women. In June 2018, Duterte drew flak when he kissed a married Filipina on the lips in public during his official visit in South Korea.

Aside from his remarks against women, the President has also been slammed for his anti-Church statements. In November last year, he encouraged Catholics to just build their own chapel inside their houses so they do not have to attend mass to “pay” for the prelates whom he called as “idiots.”