Duterte, angry and in a hurry, deserves support, but…

PRESIDENT DUTERTE, amid criticisms of his latest no-holds-barred statements before other heads of state and journalists, simply explained that he did not run for president to be a highfalutin statesman but to be a dedicated president, a parens patriae and savior of an internally troubled Third World country plagued by massive poverty and ignorance, drug abuse, trafficking of all kinds, and lawlessness, as well as by unbridled corruption in government and the private sector.

There are times when diplomacy and hypocrisy become relative terms used for convenience and as protocol. But worse still, among our government leaders and politicians, what is rampant is when public service becomes synonymous with self-service realized in deeply rooted corruption that is driven more by insatiable greed than by human need.

Perhaps, for President Duterte, the latter concern may be his immediate mission as the nation’s newly elected president. And, indeed, he appears to be angry and in a hurry to bring change to the nation. He is not only “walking his talk” but is rushing to put his talk into action. On that score, the Filipino people should support the President.

However, we can only hope and pray that President Duterte will not do it by his lonesome ala Don Quixote. Otherwise, the light that our nation sees at the end of the tunnel might turn into headlights of an onrushing train. And, God forbid, it could very well result in a “bang” so big for our country and people such that—to paraphrase Shakespeare—blood and destruction shall be so in use and dreadful objects so familiar that mothers shall but smile when they behold their children slaughtered by the hands of violence.

—AMAY P. ONG VAÑO, Cebu City