Don’t bug me: Duterte brushes off ‘Liberal’ pest

MANILA, Philippines — A cockroach briefly interrupted President Duterte’s speech at a campaign rally in Bohol Wednesday, setting social media abuzz and inspiring a parody Twitter account that made fun of the incident.

Duterte was praising his senatorial candidate Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos when a flying cockroach landed on him and crawled up his shirt.

The President seemed unaware of the intrusion until his police security aide, Capt. Sofia Deliu, approached him to swat it away with a sheaf of paper.

Duterte brushed off the cockroach and said it was an ally of the opposition Liberal Party.

“Liberal na. Ay sigurado na o. Klaro kaayo sa likod (It’s Liberal. That’s for sure. You can tell clearly by its back),” the President said, drawing laughter from the audience.

News outlets shared the video of the cockroach that bugged Duterte, drawing hundreds of reactions from social media users.

While Duterte’s supporters lauded him for maintaining his composure during the incident, his critics claimed the cockroach landed on the President because it was fond of trash and filth.

Other netizens joked that the cockroach would soon be included in the matrix on the alleged ouster plot against Duterte.

The episode inspired the creation of parody Twitter account Good Ipis (@goodipis), which described itself as the cockroach “who crawled on that dirty president.”

The account re-tweeted negative comments about the President and described Marcos as “worse than a good ipis (cockroach)” in one of its posts.

Duterte was in Garcia Hernandez town in Bohol for a last minute pitch for his long-time chief-of-staff and former Cabinet secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr., who is running for governor of Bohol.

At the same rally, Duterte acknowledged there would come a time for him to “go down,” citing passages from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes.

“I never tasted a defeat. But you know, there is always a – the passage in the Bible. Mao gyud ni akong ginabantayan. Kanang (This has always been my guiding principle). There is always a time for everything under the sun,” he said, paraphrasing Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

“You know, I might be the brilliant star today. Nagsiga halos makabuta ang imong (I shine so brightly that it’s almost blinding) or – and the light that goes with it but there’s always a time to go down. I am very conscious of that,” the President said.

He said he is ready to face whatever fate would befall him after the end of his term – or possibly of his political career – in 2022. He said he has always been prepared to deal with any development throughout his 40 years in politics.

“So that every election I always say to God, ‘if you still want me to be there, fine. If not, I’ll understand.’ Wala na ako. Lalo na ngayon (I’ll be gone, even right at this moment),” Duterte said.  He said there is one thing that he will always be proud of – his genuine concern for the welfare of the country.

“So at the end of my term, kung gusto ng Ginoo, kuhaon ko niya (if God wills that I die). But I leave you this message, very important. Nia na man gud ko. Nakatilaw na ko eh (I’m already here. I already experienced it). I have experienced it, I live through it and I can tell you with all honesty, mao ni (this): we are interested in the welfare of our country,” the President said.

Duterte said he is no longer afraid of traveling by helicopter at night or going to the mountains – even to Jolo.

The Chief Executive reiterated the need for law and order and that corruption should be stopped.

“As a matter of fact, we are willing to die for our country. As every Filipino is wont to do,” he said. “The Philippines must have law and order. And second, we have to stop corruption.”  –  With Edith Regalado