‘Using profanities is not the way to earn respect’
CATHOLICS HAVE praised Skye, a 9-year-old boy from Baguio City, for writing to President Rodrigo Duterte admonishing him for cursing and swearing in televised speeches.
Duterte is known for his use of profanities even in the presence of foreign dignitaries at international conferences. He once said such language was necessary when telling people in Davao City, where he served as mayor before becoming president, to carry out his orders.e to your daily free newsletter from UCA News
“It’s not even a crime,” he told foreign dignitaries during an Asia-Pacific Regional Conference in Pasay City in 2019 in which Duterte also said he was “not schooled in statesmanship.”
He has even used profanities when attacking Catholic Church leaders. "Even if you say bitches, they don't respond anymore. That is — that is how to win the war against the Catholic Church. All you have to say, mother fucker. You're a winner," he told members of the Philippine Baptist Church in January last year.
But a young boy was not convinced that a president should be cursing and badmouthing people in order to be respected.
“At home, we are told to respect one another. There are words that we are not allowed to say. Sometimes I hear you (Duterte) on television. I am shocked at how you curse and badmouth others,” Skye wrote on April 9.
“As president, don’t you think you should be a role model for good manners and right conduct? I hope that you will change your attitude. Then maybe I will respect you more. Thank you,” he added.
His mother explained her son wrote the letter as part of a school assignment and that she was very surprised when she read it. “He was asked to write a letter to our dear president … Our children are also aware of how a good leader should lead a country. God bless the Philippines,” Skye’s mother told the Baguio Chronicle.
She also said her son was undergoing home-schooling because of the pandemic, so had watched the president giving speeches on television on occasions.
Many Catholics praised the child’s letter.
“Awareness of what is wrong and correct at this early age … indicates what kind of values he will have in his future. The next generation of Filipinos can surely by hopeful because of someone like him. I wish there were more Skye’s in our country to call out erring leaders,” said Jab Cordero, a Manila parishioner.
Another doubted whether Duterte would ever change his ways. “He will not change. As the saying goes, you cannot teach old dog new tricks. An old dog like him? Next to impossible,” said Geraldine De Leon, a parish worker in Quezon City.
In December 2015, Duterte, who was then presidential aspirant, publicly cursed Pope Francis during a speech in Manila. He told his supporters: “Gusto kong tawagan, Pope, putang ina ka, umuwi ka na” after he was stuck for 5 hours in heavy traffic during the Pontiff’s first state and pastoral visit to Manila.
He said he even peed in his car and also blamed the government’s incompetency for the traffic. While his supporters applauded his cursing of the Pope, many Filipinos, mostly Christians, were not happy with Duterte’s foulmouthed statement on the Pope.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines also condemned Duterte’s expletive statement and called it a “great shame.”
And in June 2018 after his tirades against Catholic priests, Duterte cursed God and called God stupid for the concept of “original sin” in the Old Testament, retelling the story of Adam and Eve and how they ate the fruit from the forbidden tree and thus brought original sin upon humankind.
“Kinain ni Adam then malice was born. Who is this stupid God? Istupido talaga itong putang ina kung ganoon. You created something perfect and then you think of an event that would tempt and destroy the quality of your work,” said Duterte, who claims to be a Muslim, but eats pork which is forbidden in Islam.
“There is a part of me which is Islam actually. Kaya kung mag away-away kami ng mga buang na pari na ‘yan, hindi man ako Katoliko. Islam man totoo,” he said in his speech at a peace assembly attended by Muslims in Cotabato City. (Joseph Peter Calleja, UCAN; and with additional reports from Mindanao Examiner and Rappler and The Manila Times.)
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