GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 14 February) — “Muingon mo’g diktador? Diktador gyud ko. Kay hindi ko mag-diktador [#*!#*!] walang mangyayari sa bayan na ‘to. Tinuod,” MindaNews quoted President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Other national media online did the same.
His Cebuano-Tagalog in English: “You say I’m a dictator? I’m really a dictator. Because if I will not be a dictator (expletive), nothing will happen in this country. That’s true.
He spoke in Cebuano interspersed with Tagalog and English aired live over state-owned PTV4 in Malacañan last February 7 to 217 NPA surrenderers from Mindanao.
*** *** ***
Did he just speak to the NPA surrenderers? He did to all NPAs, Communists and their umbrella and front organizations; to all his critics, leftists, activists and political opposition.
He admitted being really a dictator, flirting with dictatorship. He twitted his critics and adversaries for calling him “dictator”, agitating them to do more. He was egging them to play a dangerous game – flirting with and courting dictatorship.
Without him as dictator, nothing good will happen to the country.
Proof? The brutal, bloody war on drugs; the destruction of Marawi to destroy the Maute ISIS-Daesh terrorism; the continuing martial law in Mindanao to wipe out other forms of terrorism and the Communist-NPA insurgency,
For all these, he has been called “dictator”. But they are good, he said, and could not have happened had he not acted as dictator. And, he swore — with expletives – to make more good things to happen with him as dictator!
*** *** ***
So, the dangerous game will go on.
More condemnation, more protests – ugly name-calling and caricature, effigy burning, NPA ambushes, et cetera, etcetera. The louder the vows to continue until Duterte steps down or is removed.
The protesters, critics, activists and political opposition, damning Duterte and his administration, will feel triumphant with the social media and street responses.