Let’s face it. “P—ng ina!” has long been on the tip of every taxpayer’s tongue ever since red tape and corruption in government first reared their ugly heads. It is a phrase everyone has always wanted to shout at the top of their lungs whenever faced with preposterous requirements for government permits, licenses, clearances or what-have-you, but they could not do so in public because it was too inappropriate—nay, too vulgar.
And now comes this probinsyano from Mindanao who minces no words, brooks no delays and calls a spade a spade. He is not only brutally frank—“Patyon ta gyud mo” (I’ll kill you); he has no problem finishing his every sentence almost always with “pi” to express his disgust over the way the government has been screwing the people all these years.
The people have at last found their long-lost voice in President Duterte.
—STEPHEN L. MONSANTO, lexsquare.firm@gmail.com