Honeymoon stage

A known ladies’ man, President Rodrigo Duterte seems to be prone to controversial brushes with women. President Duterte seems to be at the receiving end of critical words coming from strong women leaders. And the latest were coming from Supreme Court (SC) chief justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.

Reacting to the list of alleged “narco” judges that the President made public last Sunday, the Chief Justice reminded the President about the service of warrants of arrest before any arrest is made.      

Smarting from a strongly worded four-page “Dear Mr. President” letter made public by the Chief Justice, President Duterte let loose a mouthful of reply to her in public also. The President clarified he precisely instructed these judges included in the “narco” list to submit themselves to the SC as their immediate superior.

Sereno though opted to give the President her “dignified silence” on his rants. Sereno was the latest to confront the President with his unorthodox administration of doing things. It was as if the President was getting nagged by women who are not even his wives.

The President’s annulled marriage to his first wife Elizabeth Zimmerman is public knowledge. The couple has three grown-up children, incumbent Davao City Mayor Sarah Duterte, younger brother Paolo as vice mayor while youngest sibling Sebastian has his own business. He has another daughter, Veronica or “Kitty” whom he sired with Honeylet Avanceña.

During the campaign for the May 9 presidential elections, the controversial comment on the rape of an Australian woman missionary a few years ago nearly cost the candidacy of the former Davao City Mayor. Women rights’ advocates pounced on him but he emerged unscathed.

When he came to the presidential roundtable of The STAR five days before the elections, we encountered a completely different Duterte from the rough-talking persona he projected during the campaign.

Meeting him for the first time, we found him very humble, respectful and gentleman in person. He called us women editors — most much younger than him — as “Ma’am” and addressed as “Sirs” our male editors. Even now that he is the President of the country, the Chief Executive demonstrated the same humility and being respectful when STAR editors paid a courtesy call to him at Malacanang last week.

It was at a day after former Justice Secretary and now Senator Leila de Lima delivered her first privilege speech at the Senate floor. De Lima deplored the spate of killings of illegal drugs suspects as “do-it-yourself” justice now seemingly perpetrated with impunity under the Duterte administration.

Also known for his no-holds-barred language, President Duterte dismissed De Lima’s tirades with a one-liner reply: “The truth is pangit siya (she is ugly),” the President quipped. It was admittedly a childish retort but he can get away with it. Obviously, he wished to evade giving much harsher words of rebuttal.

It was actually a continuation of his running feud during the campaign with De Lima, a fellow San Beda College of Law schoolmate. It all started when the former Davao City Mayor scored De Lima for mis-administration of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City. The NBP is the attached agency under the Justice Department jurisdiction.

Early on during the campaign, Mr. Duterte repeatedly pointed to the NBP as a place where shabu was being “cooked” right inside the penitentiary by convicted drug lords while supposedly jailed for their high crimes. He squarely put the liability to De Lima who was then running as one of the administration-backed Liberal Party (LP) senatorial candidates.  

Now both elected into office, the feud may take a turn for the worse with De Lima now chairing the Senate committee on justice and human rights. Yesterday, she was able to convince fellow senators from the “super majority” to vote for the proposed Senate public hearings on the alleged extrajudicial killings and summary executions of alleged drug pushers.

Offhand, De Lima disclosed she will present several unidentified witnesses to testify at the Senate hearings scheduled on Aug. 22 and 23. The decision to push through with the Senate inquiry was reached after a meeting held yesterday with the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs chaired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson who abstained from the voting. Both De Lima and Lacson are members of the so-called “super majority,” a pro-administration coalition in the 17th Congress.

But while he is annoyed at other women leaders who have nagged him publicly, President Duterte though seems to have a soft spot for criticisms coming from his Vice President, Leni Robredo.

The Vice President earlier expressed her opposition to President Duterte’s allowing the burial of the late President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. And lately, the Vice President added her voice of concern on the spate of reported extrajudicial killings all over the country.

Speaking to soldiers at Camp Sang-An in Pulacan, Labangan town in Zamboanga del Sur last Wednesday, President Duterte expressed in words and in demeanor his admiration for the Vice President whom he fondly described as “ladylike, kind and beautiful.”

The President publicly echoed his admiration for Vice President Robredo despite her making several statements that openly criticize his administration. “She is beautiful, she is ladylike. She is kind. I have no problem with her as Cabinet member,” President Duterte told troopers. He was actually trying to explain why he had to leave while the sun was still up for safer flight going back to Davao City.

He frequently cites the Vice President would automatically succeed him into office. That is provided for under the country’s Constitution in case of death, resignation or impeachment of the President.

If he would not be lucky in his travels around the country, President Duterte pointed out, there would be a new president, a woman – referring to Vice President Robredo.

President Duterte has such love-and-hate relations from the country’s women officials. After all, he is still in a honeymoon stage in the first 100 days of his administration.