DUTERTE IS MORE OF A CONVERSATIONALIST
THAN A FIERY ORATOR IN HIS SPEECHES
By Apolinario Villalobos
Marcos has been admired by many due to his blazing speeches, most often, delivered extemporaneously, although, a surprising exposế is about the late Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s being his ghost speechwriter. Other presidents use tele-prompters. But, Duterte has, on several occasions, disregarded prepared speeches and the tele-prompter, and instead would proceed “conversing” with his listeners, using even singular, “…alam mo” (…you know), instead of the collective, “…alam nyo” (…as all of you know) which is an indication of his innate tendency to sound genial and personal.
It’s this “style” of expression that perhaps will pose a hindrance to his close friends, in their effort to remind him to be more refined and civil in delivering speeches. It is just not possible because, sometimes in the middle of a delivery, Duterte would motion to somebody to clarify something in Davaoeἧo dialect, or all of a sudden he would interrupt his statement with what to the Tagalogs sound obscene, such as “gaga”, but which a Visayan like Duterte can utter with fondness. The call for him to be refine-sounding is possible if he will read prepared speeches which he did with flying colors during the ASEAN summit conference in Laos. As much as possible, however, he wants to be more personal and cordial when he communicates with his constituents, a situation that is expected to be peppered with colorful words.
Nevertheless, let us pray and hope that someday, Duterte’s speeches shall be free of malodorous words, so that, he will be illuminated more with brilliance as he holds his listeners in awe while “conversing” with them. Some Filipinos may not accept him as their president, but his motivation is generated by the GENERAL MANDATE to serve the Philippines as a whole…and not in a segmented manner, despite the country’s archipelagic state!
penpowersong 