A very sorry-ful President

For the third time, President Rodrigo Duterte issued a public apology since he assumed office on June 30. He will be observing the first 100 days of his six-year term this Saturday.

The latest public apology came last Sunday and was addressed to the international community. President Duterte specifically apologized to the Jewish people here and elsewhere after he unintentionally hurt their memories for alluding to the annihilation of Jews in the “holocaust” during World War II.

Duterte yesterday issued his “profound” apology to the Jewish community for his remarks in decrying criticisms about his administration’s anti-illegal drugs war that so far resulted to more than 3,000 drug suspects killed. Duterte’s critics likened him to the infamous WW II German leader Adolf Hitler, the Nazi dictator and architect of the holocaust when an estimated six million Jews were killed.

He shrugged off the comparison to Hitler and vowed “to slaughter” these drug addicts all over the country in order to save from perdition the next generation of Filipinos. If being perceived and called as “Hitler of the Philippines,” the former Davao City mayor declared so be it. And this stirred bitter memories of the holocaust.

“I would like to make it clear here and now that there was never any intention on my part to derogate the memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Germans,” Duterte said during the opening of the MassKara Festival in Bacolod City.

The brash-talking President Duterte conceded his reference to the genocide of Jews during WW II left a “bad taste in the mouth” even if no malice was intended on his part. “It’s not really that I said something wrong, but rather they don’t really want you to tinker with the memory,” he pointed out.

The second public apology was done Tuesday last week during an inspection of a busted clandestine shabu factory in Arayat, Pampanga. President Duterte took the occasion to apologize for erroneously implicating three local officials in the “matrix” of government, police and military officials, barangay and other personalities allegedly into the illegal drugs trade.

In particular, the presidential apology was made to Pangasinan Rep. Amado Espino Jr., Pangasinan provincial administrator Rafael “Raffy” Baraan and Pangasinan board member Raul Sison, who were wrongly included in the illegal drug matrix.

Despite verifying the information from the police report four times, the Chief Executive admitted having discovered lapses in the vetting process. He blamed government agencies tasked to validate the “narco list” of over 1,000 suspects. The President pointed the problem to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

President Duterte’s first public apology was done on Aug. 11 to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for his “harsh words” that he said were unintended. In a late night press conference in Davao City, Duterte justified his tough talk as his way of addressing the drug menace.

The presidential outburst was aired against the Supreme Court (SC) chief justice after she wrote him asking to let the judiciary deal with its own erring members. In a public statement issued by the SC, Sereno “very strongly” cautioned the four judges on the Duterte “narco list” against surrendering without any warrant of arrest issued against them. The High Court also announced it will conduct an investigation into allegations against the four and directed Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to file complaints against them in court.

Duterte responded with ire the next day. He did not appreciate being ordered by the top magistrate. He also rhetorically asked if she would rather have him declare martial law to prevent the country from becoming a narco state.

“I would apologize to the Chief Justice for the harsh words, which were never intended,” President Duterte said in a late night press conference in Davao. “Because of the magnitude of the problem, it was my way of solving the problem within the ambit of my powers as president.” He reiterated it is his job to inform Filipinos of their surroundings so they can avoid harm and danger.

Undeterred by his public slips, President Duterte yesterday averred he is not yet done revealing the names of public officials who are believed to be involved in the illegal drug trade. He invoked anew there is nothing in the country’s laws to prevent him as the President to threaten criminals.

As the 16th President of the republic, President Duterte though, is not the first Chief Executive to apologize in public for something he did while in office.

The most recent was the “I am sorry” apology done by former President and now Pampanga congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. She made the public apology in a nationwide television broadcast for the infamous “Hello, Garci” wiretapping of her purported telephone conversation with then Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

Former President Joseph Estrada now Mayor of Manila also admitted mistakes and apologized to the public at one time during his shortened tenure at Malacanang. “We are just human beings who commit mistakes,” Mr. Estrada said.

In December 2008, the late President Corazon Aquino made a public apology to Mr. Estrada for having misjudged the latter and supporting his ouster from office in 2001. “I am one of those who plead guilty for the 2001 uprising. Lahat naman tayo ay nagkakamali. Patawarin mo na lang ako,” Mrs. Aquino told Mr. Estrada in her remarks at a public gathering.

While President Duterte keeps saying he did not run in the May 9 elections to become a statesman, accepting his mistakes, apologizing and making amends are marks of a true statesman.

But he admitted yesterday he talks too much and that’s the problem. He cannot forever go on apologizing and be a very sorry-ful President in the next six years of his office.

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Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo are my guests in today’s Kapihan sa Manila Bay weekly breakfast forum at Café Adriatico in Malate, Manila.