Almonte to Duterte: Rant in beautiful language

MANILA, Philippines – If the President has to rant, then he can do so in more elegant language.

This was the advice of former national security adviser Jose Almonte, who urged President Duterte to refrain from being too crass.

 “If (cuss words) should – not be stopped, he should transition it to a better language… you can communicate your anger, your rant, in a beautiful language,” Almonte said during an interview with ANC over the weekend.

Almonte added the President could say something like “I love you but I hate you.”

Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, who appeared in the same interview, defended Duterte, saying the President is a maverick who works outside the box and sometimes speaks off the cuff.

Andanar said the Presidential Communications Office has made preparations and has adjusted to the President’s cursing and ranting in his speeches.

“We have to adjust everything according to (the President’s statements), and it’s now becoming clear that, really until the end of his six years, the President will be the chief architect of his communication policy,” Andanar said.

He said the President still listens to his Cabinet members but stressed they could only give advice.

“It’s difficult to telegraph the punches of the President. At the end of the day, at the end of an event, he will always have something new… we are very flexible with whatever the President says,” Andanar added.

Almonte however explained that heads of state, when confronted with an issue, might choose to go to war or talk with opponents.

“And when it has become very difficult, the competition, they pause, and then they talk. But they do not say cuss words, ” he said.

Almonte added though this might just be a part of the President’s strategy.

“This is only a phase of his strategy, which all of us do not understand. How do we know that?... well, I’ll give you an example. Before the election, and the day after, I was concerned with the way he was treating his vice president. When she went to Malacañang, he kissed her hand,” Almonte said.

Andanar, on other hand, said the President has a reason for every statement made “off the cuff or blurted out of nowhere,” adding Duterte is always “five steps ahead” of his Cabinet officials.

Less talk, fewer mistakes

Sen. Richard Gordon, in a separate radio interview, said Duterte’s use of foul language will not only risk the President losing the respect of the international community, but the entire nation as well.?He said Duterte should leave foreign policy speeches to diplomats and concerned officials to avoid putting the country in a compromising position.

Gordon said Duterte, who continues to generate controversy over his expletive-laden speeches against the US and the European Union, must keep his cards close to his chest, and keep in mind that the nation is much better off if it is “friends with the whole world.”

“Foreign policy statements should be made by his (Duterte) people. It should be the foreign affairs secretary or the defense (secretary) who should be talking or else he runs the risk of already closing the door in his pronouncements,” Gordon told dzBB.  – With Paolo Romero