Friday, November 16, 2007 Ledesma: Expletives By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
MAYOR Rodrigo Duterte is capable of slapping and cussing but I don't think he has bullied anyone as his estranged partner in the "unity ticket for convenience," Congressman Prospero Nograles, was telling Manila media.
If you are from Davao by now you have gotten used to the colorful expletives of the mayor. He used curses and berates the objects of his ire, slaps them tenderly if he must but I never heard or saw him bullied anyone.
One thing is sure, when he takes up a fight you can be sure he has good bases.
That is why, for all the calling of some sectors for the two to kiss and make up, there is a growing number of Dabawenyos that are starting to enjoy these X-rated episodes of verbal tussle between the two political titans in Davao.
The media, of course, this corner included, are feasting on these with relish.
We are used to the vituperation of the mayor. He used that to drug lords and pushers, to swashbuckling warlords and politicians from Cotabato and from Compostela Valley who used to roam around the city with armed bodyguards. He reviles abusive Korean nationals who think Davao is an extension of their domiciles. He castigates kidnappers, assuming they survive at all, and vilify abusive drivers in front of the public.
After all these chastisements, assuming these are not enough, the mayor simply gives them a whack. The language and the whacking are part of the leadership style of the mayor and Dabawenyos simply approve them. The cussing is music to our ears.
But what are more intriguing in this quarrel are maybe close-guarded secrets just starting to surface. I think what we have heard so far is just the tip of the iceberg. The mayor said last week that he will resume his tirade while Nogie says he will be the "last man standing." Which means that if everybody is scared of Duterte, he (Nogie) will go to it alone.
For a starter, Mayor Duterte bared that Congressman Nograles had a project in Agusan del Norte. Nograles, on the other hand, said he merely helped in the release of the fund for a fellow congressman, he being the majority floor leader then. I do not know whether the congressman from Butuan will confirm this. On the surface, I do not see anything wrong in this.
As a repartee, Nograles takes a jab at how the peace and order fund of Durterte is being expended. But then judging from the prevailing stable peace and order condition in Davao City, I trust that this is properly utilized.
I am certain that this will not end as quickly as when it was triggered. The mayor has promised his TV and radio listeners that what we just had is merely an icing in the cake. We have to brace ourselves with the coming of a verbal tsunami that will, for certain, inundate the political scene of Davao City.
Some quarters say that maybe Pastor Quiboloy can intervene. I doubt whether the good reverend will risk being squeezed in "dalawang nag-uumpugang bato." I also doubt whether PGMA will have the heart and the time to stand in the way and negotiate peace. She has enough problems with the Senate even as she had eluded the impeachment complaint in the lower house.
BTW, former vice governor but now chief of staff of his dad, Anthony G. del Rosario, will be guest at Radio Ukay from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Friday. Program host Jun Gutierrez and co-host Jimmy Torres of the newly organized "9 MM" media association which is headed by Sonny Mendoza of Insider will moderate the forum.
Architect Chito Gavino, a syndicated columnist, will be there along with Fred Alonzo of the Mindanao Journal. Sunbursts of Sun.Star Davao will be there too along with Ely Luciano of Sun.Star Superbalita reputed to be the widely circulated local newspaper in Mindanao.
