The change Du30 has so far done

When candidate Rodrigo Duterte promised change (among other things) in his campaign, should he win the presidential election, voters went for him. And he did win. The problem is, it was not clear what kind of change he had in mind.

As it is now, the changes we see are in style—in governance, in the presidential language used in public statements and in remarks about the private lives of administration officials.

It has become normal for us to hear the President lace his public statements, including speeches before sensitive audiences (e,g., women and children), with expletives. For a leader, it does not speak well of his upbringing. People look up to him to be a model of rectitude. Doesn’t he care what effect he could have on children watching him in person or on TV?

And we have his spokesperson, Secretary Ernesto Abella, supposedly a Christian minister (former?) who tries to soothe the public’s feelings by asking the people to just forget everything as it’s just the President’s way of speaking.

And comes House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, unable anymore to deny that he has a girl friend, having the gall to justify the relationship, saying there’s nothing wrong with it, never mind that he has a wife. And the President agrees with him. Is it because it is something that both of them have in common?

I do not claim to be somebody who is “metikoloso” (meticulous), but I expect more from our President. I expect him to be polished in his speech and in his public appearances (no to rolled barong sleeves, for one). He is no longer a city mayor, he is the president of the Philippines.

ED MISLANG, edmislang@gmail.com