EDITORIAL - ‘Misreporting’

Media groups trotted out yesterday video and tape recordings to prove that indeed President Duterte had threatened to declare martial law if the drug menace became exceptionally “virulent.” Malacañang officials, for their part, insisted that the President’s words had been “misreported” and journalists had again missed the context and nuance of his public pronouncement made over the weekend in Davao City.

Yesterday Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II added to the voices of administration officials who said the President did not intend to declare martial law. For all his talk about emulating his favorite predecessor Ferdinand Marcos and imposing military rule, President Duterte had previously said he considered it “stupid” and unnecessary to declare martial law at this time. He should just stick to that message to avoid seeing his statements misreported.

Amid the bickering, several senators gave a sound advice yesterday: the President should just stop talking about martial law. In many of his speeches, President Duterte has been rambling on about his options in attaining his objective of eliminating all drug dealers in the country, down to the last man and woman. And he keeps mentioning martial law as a weapon against criminality and general lawlessness. Journalists simply pick up the statements.

Every utterance of the head of government is news, whether it is said openly in public, whispered off-mike, texted, tweeted or posted on Facebook, as US president-elect Donald Trump is finding out. President Duterte should learn from the travails of the incoming US leader whom he considers a friend.

The President may be familiar with the wartime admonition that loose lips sink ships. When one is prone to rambling in public, leaving a wide room for different interpretations, there is virtue in circumspection. If President Duterte sincerely believes imposing martial law is needless and stupid, he should just shut up about it.