Who really is President Duterte? Is he half Chinese or a full-blooded Filipino?
From the way he is awfully quiet on the aggressive behavior of his Chinese counterpart, one would think that the answer to the question is the former.
Mr. Duterte behaves the way he does because he is a bully — the foul-mouthed kind who intimidates the weak and the helpless who cross his line.
But against those with enough grit to stand toe-to-toe with him, he can be low-key, if not mute and meek as a lamb.
And then there is another kind of bully that can be called a “silent operator.”
This one is more dangerous because he is sleek and sly as a fox and is not in the habit of threatening with intimidating words. He would simply take action without any warning. Xi Jinping is this type.
The inaction we now see from the Philippine leader should not come as a surprise at all because he has already shown deference to China since the early days of his administration.
Didn’t he even go all the way to Beijing shortly after taking oath as the new president and even “joked” about the Philippines becoming a province of China?
Which has now left poor Juan dela Cruz wondering: “What a mess! Should I now start learning how to speak Chinese or what?”
JUANITO T. FUERTE, jtfuerte@comcast.net