POLITICAL: Family to the fore
Rodrigo Duterte’s little timekeeper
The Presidential candidate of the PBP Lapang party, 71 year old, Mayor for the last 22 years or seven terms was in the middle of his extempore speech;
he was a man of his words was what was passing through the vast multitude that gathered to hear him talk on that historic day.
It was the introductory speech of his whirlwind campaign which was just beginning and he had been a late entrant; an entrant who
had refused several times to be drawn into the vortex of the race for that cherished post, The President of the Republic of Philippines.
A middle-aged woman and a young girl of about 12 years were sitting in one corner of the arena and hanging by every
word that was being uttered by Rodrigo Duterte the Mayor of Davao. That was barely three months ago; the girl was none other than Veronica,
the 12 year old daughter of Rody Duterte and the woman was Honeylet Avanceña, a nurse and the common law wife of the Presidential candidate.
Veronica was not idle, she would go up her father handing him slips of paper, whispering short instructions and handing him bottles of water during the speech which stretched for over an hour.
His living in partner however did not move from the side-lines; they did not even show any reactions when the excited man used the worst insults and profanities many times during the speech.
The diminutive serious looking girl and the mother were both only intent on doing their duty to assist the father of the girl in presenting his claim in the upcoming elections. Whenever they were accosted by the mediamen and asked questions, the little girl just clung to her mother and smiled shyly.
The lady chose to answer their questions with a simple statement that, since her husband was above 70 years old, it was necessary to keep a close watch on all his requirements, ensure his comforts, keep track of his food and medicines while making an all-out effort to see that he remained in good health and did not exert himself too much.
She also informed the media men that apart from the physical aspects of their supportive role, they were always praying that he keeps good health during the hectic campaigning.
Controlling the boss
Rodrigo Duterte is a violent man with a ferocious outburst if he loses his collar; god help his campaign team and those managers whose job is to assist him maintaining his heavy schedule because he is a people’s man and gets carried away in their company.
Managing Rodrigo Duterte can be a testing job; he is eager to show his audience that he loves their company. Duterte often loses his collar, if interrupted.
His chance meeting with some farmers or village folk can sometime catapult him headlong into an unscheduled interaction with his country folk; and, it is not so easy to drag him away.
One of his main managers and his closest friend Bong Go is aware of the difficulty in tearing away the boss when hi in the middle of his impromptu sermons and discourses with his followers; on one such instance, when Duterte lost all sense of time interacting with some villagers, Bong faced the full fury of his boss.
When reminded of the delay, Duterte flew into a tantrum and threatened Go that he will kill him then and there.
However, the experienced campaign manager, who has been his assistant since 1998) knows both his job and his boss thoroughly; they have enrolled his 12 year old daughter Veronica to take up this potentially (in a lighter vein, of course) life-threatening chore.
The calm little girl just sidles up to him and whispers in his ear even if he is in the middle of a full-fledged discourse.
His adult campaign team members are patting their own backs at their discovery. During one such ticklish moment, she whispered and made him turn around to face the touchy media persons who were incensed that he was not facing them.
The great man obediently did as he was told by his chit of a daughter.
Meanwhile, news from the President-elect’s managers is that his other daughter Sara will be performing the function of the First Lady and his wife, Honeylet will be looking after his household and his personal needs.
She informed that he is a frugal eater and he does not like wearing itchy clothes and she has to do the shopping for his daily needs.
Meanwhile, his ex-wife Zimmerman and daughter Sara are holding up the fort at Mindanao.
Umrao Singh Umraoz.wordpress.com
Written for: Lars-Magnus Carlsson www.thephilippinepride.com
