The mind of Rody Duterte LESSONS FROM FATHER AND MOTHER MOLDED RODY DUTERTE’S CHARACTER

By Manny Pinol

The character of Rody Duterte, the person and the politician, was molded by two persons, one of who he looked up to with awe and immense respect and the other he deeply loved but feared.

Vicente G. Duterte, Rody’s father who was Governor of the then undivided province of Davao from 1956 up to 1967, left an indelible imprint in the mind of his young son on how government officials should act and handle themselves.

“We knew our father was a government official but we never felt the difference between ourselves, the Governor’s children, and the other kids in the neighborhood,” Duterte recalled.

“My father was Governor but we never felt or enjoyed the perks and privileges of his position,” he said.

“We never even had the chance to ride in his government-issued car. As kids we were so impressed by the shiny service vehicle of the Governor but all that we did was to touch it when it was parked in our home,” Duterte recalled.

“Sometimes, we would sneak into the car, sit in its soft seats and pretend we were having a ride,” he said.

“That was the closest we got to the car and that was the simple joy that we had as children of the Governor of the province. Aside from that, we were just ordinary kids,” Duterte said.

But Duterte interpreted his father’s refusal to allow them to ride the government car as his way of teaching his children a lesson on ethical standards for government officials.

“The privileges given to government officials in the performance of their duties do not extend to the members of their family and what belongs to government should not be claimed by political leaders as theirs,” was Rody Duterte’s interpretation of his father’s action.

The frugal lifestyle of his father, the Governor, was a virtue that the young Duterte inherited.

Until today, he lives in a low-cost housing subdivision in Davao City, wears t-shirt and denim pants going to the office and has not even learned to operate modern information gadgets.

It is this simplicity, however, which the people of Davao City has admired so much which explains why since he entered politics in 1986, Duterte has not lost an election.

But it was his mother, the late Soledad Roa-Duterte, who had the greatest influence on Rody Duterte, the person.

Described by Time Magazine as “The Punisher” for being a tough and fearless leader who confronts criminals head-on, Rody admits that there was only one person he feared most – his mother.

“Even when I was already a prosecutor, I would be extremely worried if somebody told me that my mother wanted to see me,” he said.

Duterte said he would immediately ask himself what he had done wrong.

A former teacher turned street parliamentarian during the Martial Law years, Nanay Soleng, as she was fondly called by friends and relatives, was a feisty woman who imposed strict discipline and who believed in corporal punishment on her five children.

“If the Child Protection Laws were enacted during my growing up years, my mother could have been charged with child abuse,” Duterte says in jest whenever the character of her mother crops up in a conversation.

Duterte said her mother often punished him by ordering him to kneel before the icon of Jesus Christ with arms stretched out for hours.

This kind of punishment was so frequent that “Jesus Christ became my best friend,” Duterte says.

As he grew older and became a parent himself, Duterte said he finally realized what it was that his mother wanted.

“My mother wanted me to be a better person. She was devastated when I was expelled from the Ateneo de Davao and I had to finish my high school studies in the Holy Cross of Digos (now Cor Jesu College in Digos City about 45 kilometers from Davao City),” Duterte recalled.

His expulsion from the prestigious Davao city school came following several infractions of the school’s rules, the worse of which was when he was caught hitting with a slingshot a school official, who he claimed spanked him in the head.

“My father did not even know that I spent seven years in high school,” Duterte said.

“Nanay Soleng instilled in me the sense of right and wrong, the rewards for doing right and the punishment for committing a wrong,” he said.

It was the sense of right and wrong and justice which molded the young Duterte into becoming a tough criminal prosecutor who handled some of the most controversial cases in Davao City.

“He was really tough even when he was just a prosecutor. We lawyers shuddered at the thought of going up against him in court,” recalled lawyer Elbert Trestauro, now a Davao City labor arbiter.

It was his mother who paved the way to a political career which has now stretched 28 years when she declined the appointment as OIC Vice Mayor of Davao City following the 1986 EDSA Revolution. Then President Cory Aquino declared all political positions vacant and appointed Officers In Charge or OICs.

Nanay Soleng instead recommended her son, Rodrigo.

“I did not want that position, actually. All I dreamed of was to become a Sandiganbayan Justice,” he said.

When he became Davao City’s Mayor, however, the influence of his mother became very evident.

Showing concern for the youth of his city, he waged a no-nonsense and sometimes bloody campaign against drugs syndicates personally leading raids on suspected drug laboratories which more often than not ended with the death of the drug lords.

“Sabi ng nanay ko masama ang manigarilyo,” he said when he quit puffing the Marlboro Red and implemented a very strict “No Smoking in Public Places” making Davao City the first local government unit which succeeded in the anti-smoking campaign.

(My mother said smoking is bad.)

“Sabi ng nanay ko masama magpaputok ng rebentador (firecrackers) kasi maputol ang mga daliri mo at mga kamay,” he said and the City Government of Davao imposed a very strict “Firecrackers Ban” which is the envy of other local government units all over the country.

(My mother said it is bad to explode firecrackers because it will blow off your fingers and even your hands.)

“Sabi ng nanay ko puedeng uminom basta hwag lang abutin ng umaga,” Duterte said so he implemented a drinking curfew of only up to 1 a.m.

(My mother said it is okey to drink for as long as you don’t do it until the wee hours of the morning.)

“Sabi ng nanay ko, delikado magpatakbo ng mabilis sa siyudad kasi baka makasagasa ka ng tao,” he said to explain the imposition of a very strict speed limit within the city which led to the apprehension of his own daughter, lawyer Sarah Duterte-Carpio, herself former mayor of Davao.

(My mother said it is dangerous to drive fast in the city because you might hit pedestrians.)

Duterte loved and adored his mother so much that when she died and was about to be cremated, he tried to pull out her coffin as it was pushed into the cremation chamber.

Literally howling and shouting “Don’t burn my mother,” he had to be physically restrained by his eldest child, Paolo, now vice mayor of Davao.

Today, all that Duterte has are the memories of his father and mother and their lessons on leadership ethics and righteousness which molded him into a public official who has remained unsoiled in the corruption-mired Philippine politics and who continues to wage a crusade for what is right and just.

(Note: Friends, I am posting this article a day ahead of schedule because I am spending the holidays in my farm in kidapawan city where the internet signal is very weak. In fact, I have to get out of the farm and go to the city center to post this story. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all!)