It’s pathetic to see the gang around President Duterte falling all over themselves in their attempts at damage control for their leader’s endlessly uncouth tongue. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello’s conjecturing that Mr. Duterte’s stupid remark aimed at the US president was “maybe [because] he remembered President Obama is already a lame-duck president” (“Bello says Obama now a lame-duck president,” News, 9/7/16), is completely wanting in intelligence.
Turning down a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is equally beyond reason.
Lauro Baja Jr., former Philippine representative to the UN, put it succinctly when he said that President Duterte needs “to learn the art of diplomacy.” This is a tall order for someone who likes to show himself off as a tough guy and a man of the people disdainful of tradition demanded by formal occasions. The President has put this country on the map as one being led by a buffoon. Indeed, the country is cursed with having the most “unpresidential” of presidents.
—CELESTE T. CRUZ,