AS expected, the usual personalities and sectors are quick to crucify President Rodrigo Duterte when he recently mentioned that the presidency is not a job for women.
While I, too, happen to be a woman, I disagree over how the issue was twisted in an apparent attempt to demonize the President and anger the women sector.
I am no Duterte supporter and Moreno, we are even far from being acquaintances. I just want to be truthful regarding the issue at hand.
Well, I happened to have watched that very portion where Duterte mentioned the said controversial line.
In fairness to him, based on the way he delivered the line and taken as a whole, I don’t think he meant it the way his political foes are picturing he did.
President Duterte was expressing his objection to the idea of his daughter, Davao Mayor Sara, running for president in the upcoming elections.
He said, in the vernacular, that he would not want Sara to experience the same kind of hardships he had been going through.
In emphasizing how difficult things have been for him, President Duterte mentioned that the job is not one meant for women and then went on to say that women have a different emotional setup.
Like it or not but traditionally, in the Philippine culture, men continue to look out for women, being the typically weaker sex and it is in this context that President Duterte said that presidency is not the kind of job for women. He was referring to his very own daughter whom he wants protected from headaches and stress, given the kind of government people we have.
Judging from his premise, his tone, facial expression and all, it was clear that President Duterte was merely expressing his concern for his daughter’s welfare and the stress she would have to endure if she guns for the presidency. He wanted to protect his daughter like any father would.
Nowhere in his pronouncements did President Duterte sound like he was belittling or insulting women in general, or worse, their capacity to hold the highest office in the land. I also did not see him say that ‘women are not fit to become president’ contrary to some screaming headlines misquoting him as having said so.
Had the President stated that ‘women are unfit to become President,’ it would have been a totally different story and I would have joined the ranks of those who beg to disagree. But he didn’t and apparently, there are efforts to distort what the President had said and sell the distortion to the gullible public.
To me, the President’s statement was taken out of context, intentionally or otherwise.
We all know President Duterte by now. He is a straightforward guy who would not mince words to get his message across, no matter who gets hurt.
If he meant it the way his foes say he did, he would have said it like that, straight away. He need not play with words because he does not care what his critics would say, being so used to it.
And if he really meant that women are unfit to become president, he would have said so not only categorically, but surely with matching face, tone and sarcastic remarks to stress his point.
Meantime, Mayor Sara made pronouncements about having informed the President that she does not intend to run for President come 2022.
According to her, she is not merely being coy nor would she be doing a ‘last-minute.’ “If the whole country does not want to believe (this) then I can’t do anything about it. Not everyone wants to be president. I am one of them….I thank all of them for their trust and confidence in what I can do but my refusal to run for president is not the end of the world,” she said.
I believe and hope that Mayor Sara keeps her word, for the sake of her own dad’s peace of mind.
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Beauty tip— Make a hair pack by mixing amla (Indian goose berry) powder with one egg. Apply it to your hair and leave for half an hour. Wash hair. (Source: Dr Rosary May Canay-Diaz of Californian Bloom Aesthetic Institute and Medical Spa /168 Branch-09773726628/87010887/ Valezuela-09560895596/87010890/E. Rodriguez-09560895598/87010899/ Website: www.californianbloom.com.ph/ Facebook:CALIFORNIAN BLOOM)
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Jokjok (from Johnny Arrieta of Quezon City )— Teacher: Juan bakit ka late?/
Juan: Kasi po pinalo po ng tatay ko ang kapatid ko!/ Teacher: Ha? O eh ano naman ang kinalaman mo doon, aber?/ Juan: Kasi po sapatos ko po ang pinampalo sa kapatid ko po eh…
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