COLUMN: FIRST THINGS FIRST– Some women want to slap a politician – – By Francisco S. Tatad

FIRST THINGS FIRST

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MY wife and I were having a quiet family dinner with our very young grandchildren last Thursday evening (Valentine’s Day) when I was informed by GMA-Channel 7 that President Rodrigo Duterte, in a campaign speech in San Jose del Monte in Bulacan, had threatened to “slap me” for writing about his health.

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A niece messaged me later to say DU30 had asked me “to prove my virility,” and “lend him my wife for 10 minutes.” The threat was totally uncalled for, and the vulgarity way out of bounds. It was lower than low—far beyond the limits of what was morally permissible—even from the most reprehensible source.

I am a non-violent presidential critic, not an enemy of the President or the State. I engage in intellectual battles, argumentation and debate, not in tests of muscular strength or competitions in lewd behavior. In a few months, I will be 80, my wife 75; if DU30, who is 73, would like to demonstrate his manhood, he would probably meet no difficulty in violating the dignity of a defenseless and non-violent elderly couple.

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Early history

I have no personal quarrel with President DU30. Some of my best friends in Davao are also his friends, and before he became President I used to think that because of them, he and I were also “friends.” On my two successful senatorial runs, he gave me a ride on his motorbike and was utterly friendly and helpful. In the last election, I did not vote for any presidential candidate. But some people thought that by questioning candidate Grace Poe’s Filipino citizenship before the Supreme Court, my friends and I actually helped the winner.

They reasoned that had we not questioned Sen Poe’s citizenship, which cost her so many votes, she, not DU30, might have prevailed. All this is water under the bridge now, but this helps to show that my colleagues and I, at the National Transformation Council, were never DU30’s critics in the beginning. We became critics only after every terrible thing began—the violations of human rights, the attacks on God, the Church, and religion, the deliberate relinquishment to China of our sovereign claims in the West Philippine Sea, and other serious issues. Even so, we never became DU30’s enemies at all. As devoted Catholic Christians, we continue to denounce his errors, while praying for his conversion.

In one column, I said we cannot give up on this President; by the grace of God, Saul, who persecuted Christ, became Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles.

Shaken belief

As a critic, I have raised issues others dared not raise. In fairness to DU30, he has endured my criticisms without any harassment or threat of violence and without heaping upon me or my family any abuse—until now. I thought this was a blessing despite his clear descent into authoritarian rule, which I have condemned. But his Valentine’s Day attack on me may have shaken to the core my belief in his ability to handle his critics and their criticisms. This is not good at all.

I have been in public life since 1969 when, at 29, I joined the Cabinet and stayed for 10 long years. From the Cabinet, where I served as press secretary, presidential spokesman and information minister, I served in the legislature, first at the interim Batasang Pambansa, where I represented the Bicol region as the first of its 12 assemblymen, then in the Senate, where I served mostly as Majority Leader – for a total of 15 years. In between elective positions, I went back to journalism and functioned as a critic of presidents—from Marcos after I left the Cabinet, through Cory Aquino, before I joined the Senate, up to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and B.S. Aquino 3rd, after I left the upper chamber.

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Harder than Marcos

In 1972, I read Marcos’ martial law proclamation to the nation. But I became the only member of his Cabinet to resign, six years before the EDSA revolt. Then, as a “comebacking” journalist and a newly minted critic, I helped expose Marcos’ two secret kidney transplants in 1983 and 1984, among other things. Yet Marcos, whom many called a dictator, never responded as DU30 has, to my journalism. Malacañang denied my exclusive stories, and tried to show pictures of Marcos working in his study under normal conditions, while he received medical care somewhere else. But Marcos never lost his cool.

The whole Valentine’s Day speech was a total shocker. I did not want to add fire to it, so I declined all interviews with the TV stations and the usual news forums. ut wherever I went after that, I was met by angry women who said they would like to “slap a politician” not so much because DU30 had threatened to slap me, as because he had disrespected my wife, who is not a party to the controversy, and, because of her, all women.

Reporting on DU30’s speech last Saturday, The Manila Times quoted DU30 as saying my last article on his health condition, which he failed to reference accurately, was a “violation” of press freedom, for reasons he did not specify. “This Tatad, you Tatad. You know there is a border between press freedom and disrespecting people. If I see you, get out of my way. You son of a b***h, I will slap you. Believe me, I will slap you in front of a lot of people.”

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Report undisputed

He never found it necessary to say that my report about his alleged kidney operation on Jan. 29, 2019, was false. In fact, he never referred to the alleged kidney procedure; instead, he excoriated me for allegedly claiming—which I never did—that he was afflicted with “cancer.” By changing the term of reference, he avoided answering the question I asked in my column, “Did he get a new kidney?”

The President said this was a violation of press freedom. Perhaps what he really meant was, it’s a violation of his right to privacy. But where the President’s health is concerned, the people’s right to know and the President’s duty to be transparent about it, are paramount and precede his right to privacy. The Constitution makes this abundantly clear.

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DU30’s virility

If the President’s only problem were his virility, a subject he likes to talk about, no journalist could claim the right or duty to inquire into it, even in the name of press freedom. This is because a leader’s libido is not the legitimate concern of the community, unless, of course, the problem is one of extreme excess, which makes its possessor behave like an animal in heat which tries to mate with every female beast on sight. In which case, its possible effect on public order and state affairs could create a legitimate public interest.

I hope and pray that DU3O’s spoken threat does not translate into a real act of violence. However, 849 years ago, in 1170, Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered by King Henry 2nd’s dark knights after they heard him say, “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” This is what some people fear. DU30 is no Henry 2nd, and I am no Thomas Becket, but there are many villainous characters around who may not hesitate to add another murder to their crimes. DU30 should guarantee that nothing like this happens.

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A positive ending

For the nation’s sake, this episode must end well. This entails a few things. First of all, the President should be able to suffer the distinction between the rights and duties of the press and those of his office. Between purely private matters and matters of public interest. And how to respond to legitimate criticism.

Regarding the last, the President should find time to read and understand what his critics write. My impression is that he does not exert enough effort to do this. In my own case, I am told somebody reads what I write and summarizes it for the President. Since I am not always easy to read, so much is lost in the process.

Thus, DU30 seems to believe I have written what I have not written—that he is suffering from cancer. In 2017, when his spokesman could not tell the press where the President was, I asked whether it was possible he had gone to the Fuda Cancer Hospital in Guangzhou as some had claimed in social media. The President was first piqued, but eventually confirmed it, saying he had gone to Fuda to see where Tatad had himself circumcised, so that he could have his own circumcision fixed too.

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The next steps

In my last piece on the President’s health, I reported on the alleged kidney operation after he disappeared from public view for a combined stretch of 14 days, prompting the Malacañang spokesman, Sal Panelo, to formally squelch rumors that he had in fact died. Malacañang should have instantly declared that kidney report false; but for at least a full week the report was completely uncommented upon, and when the President finally spoke, he threatened to slap me in the face without denying the story.

To avoid this from recurring, DU30 should now follow the Constitution and require his medical doctor to periodically issue bulletins about his state of health. He should also probably meet with his critics every now and then to satisfy their curiosity about his health, and at the same time to enable him to give them a piece of his mind, and “slap them in the face,” if ever necessary. Marcos never shied away from these encounters; DU30 should be braver than Marcos.

Big corporate media should now exercise their paramount duty to inform the public on the President’s state of health at all times. Whenever any question on this issue arises, they should make it their business to be the first ones to get the entire story out, firsthand. They should not allow one solitary journalist, particularly a columnist, to risk getting slapped in the face for running after the story by his lonesome. Big media should be the first ones to go in.

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