Duterte camp asks supporters to be civil, decent

MANILA, Philippines – Presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte’s camp on Sunday evening appealed to supporters and asked them to be responsible citizens in dealing with the campaign's critics.

Duterte's camp released its statement following the University of the Philippines Los Baños academic forum last Friday where the mayor’s supporters alleged that he was disrespected by a student who asked Duterte to answer a question directly.

“We are asking the supporters of presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to take the moral high ground when engaging in any kind of discourse concerning our candidate,” the camp said.

“In light of the issue involving some students of the University of the Philippines Los Baños, we enjoin all of you to be responsible citizens and exercise civility, intelligence, decency and compassion when engaged in any discourse,” it added.

The UPLB student named Stephen Villena drew flak after a portion of the video was reported went viral. In the video, Duterte was answering the question about the defense budget when he was cut by the student and asked the presidential bet to answer the question directly so Duterte can go home.

“So sana pakisagot po 'yung tanong ng diretso kasi ‘yung tanong ko lang naman po hindi po ba madadagdagan 'yung budget for defense sa pag-implement n'yo ng ginagawa n'yo sa Davao City sa buong Pilipinas, so sana po pakisagot lang po ng diretso kasi nagtatanong lang kami ng diretso para makauwi na po kayo,” Villena said.

Duterte attempted to answer once more but Villena again cut the mayor and so Duterte then replied with a joke.

The student was bullied for his alleged disrespect to Duterte.

Apart from Villena, another student named Ronald Gem Celestial also got bullied and was mistaken to be Villena.

On Sunday, a student named Minami Iwayama in charge of the microphone during the question and answer portion part of the forum explained the events on her personal Facebook account. She explained that Villena was asking the mayor to answer the questions directly as Duterte needed to leave early since the helicopter he was riding cannot travel by night.

“Si Mr. Stephen Villena. Dahil ang haba sumagot ni Mayor Duterte, kalagitnaan pa lang ng kanyang pagsagot sa tanong ni MR. USC Chairperson, eh nagsabi na siya na hindi na siya pwedeng magtagal... Gusto ko lang rin po idagdag para malinaw sa ating lahat na hindi na pwedeng magtagal pa si Hon. Mayor Duterte sa DL Umali pagkat hindi raw pwede bumiyahe ng gabi ang helicopter na kanyang gamit bilang transportasyon (for safety reasons),” Iwayama said.

Iwayama noted that Duterte arrived an hour and a half late and there were several students wanting to ask questions that were not allowed due to the time limit.

Meanwhile, both Celestial and Villena also aired their side regarding the incident. Celestial claimed that he was only mistaken due to the video report while Villena said he has no intention of disrespecting the mayor.

Like Iwayama, Villena said he was only asking the mayor to answer on point as the latter was in a hurry to leave. He claimed the  shortened video report made him appear disrespectful. He asked the public to analyze the full context of the forum first before drawing conclusions.

“To be clear, it was Mayor Duterte who was in a hurry to leave. The spliced video that was uploaded to the internet did not show the full exchange between me and Mayor Duterte. The cut video somehow made it appear na pinapauwi ko na si Mayor. Hindi po, sya po ang nagmadali na umuwi. In fact I only wanted to accommodate his wish to finish the Q&A portion of the forum asap,” Villena said.

“The end result was that the people who only saw the shortened video but did not participate in the forum somehow got the impression that I was bastos, arrogante, walang modo,” he added.

Villena also clarified the speculations that he was a relative of any candidate running for national office. He said he is also not a friend of any children of Liberal Party’s Vice Presidential candidate Camarines Sur Rep. Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo as alleged.

In a televised ambush interview, Duterte addressed the criticisms that he failed to provide concrete and direct answers saying he considered some questions silly.

“It was also motherhood statement, and the questions were a bit silly,” Duterte said.

"For example, one was asking why the guns of the Army [in Davao] look better than the rest of the soldiers he saw around in Mindanao. I was about to tell him you do not have be a smart aleck. We do not supply the arms of the Army. It's the Armed Forces of the Philippines [which does that]. They are just deployed in the city by the Armed Forces, by the contingencies of the moment. We have nothing to do with the Army of anyone here... Ayaw ko namang hiyain," he explained.

While the Duterte camp appreciates the supporters’ intense expression of love for the mayor, it is still asking them to remain civil in dealing with the issues faced by the mayor and continue to be united for the betterment of the country.

“We deeply appreciate the hearty and oftentimes intense expression of support and love for Duterte as all these push our campaign for real change to a whole new level. Let us be reminded that we are here together because of our collective desperation for the country to break away from discontent, poverty, corruption, criminality, and proliferation of drugs. These are the reasons why we have aspired for real change,” the camp said.

“Lest we forget, we have signed up to join Duterte in his battle, a battle against the systemic oppression by the government of its people. The battle is not against our fellow Filipinos,” it added.