There were two things that stood out in President Duterte’s one-hour-and-a-half hour tête-à-tête with Presidential Legal Counsel Sal Panelo: he didn’t want to talk about his health and he is obsessed with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.
After about ten minutes of monologue defending his attempt to nullify the amnesty granted to Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV by then President Benigno Aquino III Panelo wanted to talk about his health: “Puntahan naman natin ang mga agam-a gam ng taumbayan kasama na ang critics nyo na si Joma Sison. Sinasabi na kayo ay may sakit. Ano po ang masasabi nyo tungkol sa inyong kalusugan para marnig ng taumbayan?”
Duterte’s answer was about the alleged conspiracy of the Community Party of the Philippines and the Magdalo to topple him: “Alam nyo itong si Sison, pati itong Magdalo, pati itong ayaw sa akin, yung talagang hindi tumanggap sa akin ever since noong election, they have combined and we have the evidence and we have the conversation provided by a foreign country sympathetic to us. We don’t have the sophistication but the connections will be shown maybe any day now. I asked that it be declassified at ipakita nila sa lahat. Nahihigop lahat . They were in constant communication.
Panelo tried to stir back the conversation to the President’s health: “Sa punto po ng kalusugan, talagang malusog na malusog kayo, nakikita ng mga tao.”
Duterte didn’t comment.
Here’s the observation of some viewers:
Journalist Fe Zamora said, “He looks sick, out of focus ang mata parang na stroke. Very dark ang skin, which reminds of a friend who underwent radiation, umitim ang mukha.”
Manny Bautista seconded: “The contrast is very apparent in the color of the arm to the face.”
This was the same observation of a friend who sent me a private message: “Pansin po ba ninyo that PRRD is parang biglang nawawala sa issue? Walang focus or me sakit na yata talaga.”
He also noted that “He was talking about rice and cabinet meeting tapos biglang nagshift ke Trillanes. Walang konek.”
His obsession with Trillanes was obvious. Panelo tried to make him discuss other issues but he kept on going back to Trillanes. This shows that he was really rattled by Trillanes’ defiance which gained widespread support and sympathy.
His comments also betrayed his resentment that the military did not execute his order stated in Proclamation 572 to arrest Trillanes while he was in Israel and Jordan without a warrant of arrest. He blamed the “mistah” culture among graduates of the Philippine Military Academy.
What did Duterte achieve with that tête-à-tête?
Here are more comments in Facebook:
Ricardo De Leon Dalisay: “In-Love ba si Digong kay Trillanes, maski anong issue, bumabalik doon.”
Ismael Paredes Penado said at one point, “It’s getting so boring already. The obsession with Trillanes is so palpable. Pitiful.”
Andrei Manuel said “He also sounds like he is threatening the military who are supporting Sen. Trillanes.”
Inday Espina-Varona: “Ayun lumabas ang hugot sa AFP generals, probably because they didnt follow orders to storm the Senate for Trillanes. Doon kayo kay Trillanes. Never mind me. I will survive. You can kill me. Pakita nyo sa Filipino na matalino kayo.”
He even said “Bakit gusto nyo si Trillanes, dahil mas guapo?”
He must have been affected by all the memes putting him side by side with Trillanes.
Jing Garcia dsaid, “Daming topics pero puro Trillanes lang narinig ko. It’s like Facebook live on TV.
Noel Esquela said, “I found it ridiculous, pathetic in its petulance, petty in its vindictiveness, framing everything as a choice between himself and the folly of public outcry against his perceived incompetence or inability to govern at all.”
Virginia Florita said, “As usual..nag dakdak na naman…just like an old broken tap.”
Beting Laygo Dolor: He’s rambling, but what else is new?”
That’s what JB Bayon said: “He is no Rambo. He is rambling.”
Manny Marinay said, “ I started cooking dinner. Walang kwenta, as usual.”
Jinky Jorgio: “Nakatulog ako.”
when asked about his health, duterte talked about trillanes, the magdalo ang joma sison, meaning po his health is affected by trillanes, the magdalo at joma sison, gets ko po yan. wala kasi si roque to clarify matters, absent and spokesman when he should have been there. nasanayan na yata ni duterte to have roque go over his words and in roque’s absence duterte seems lost. impromptu tete a tete is not duterte’s strong point, mahina siya dyan.
what alarms me is when duterte said a foreign country friendly to him has eavesdropped on private conversation between joma sison and magdalo, the foreign country presumably is china. so if china can eavesdrop and listen to private conversation, china is possibly spying on all of us.
pihikan masyado, buti pa yong pewters on the background marami, mukhang urns where ashes of the cremated dead are kept, lol! at bat dalawa lang sila: duterte’t panelo? dapat may panel of interviewers befitting the rank of a president instead of just panelo who is mirror imaging the president, their legs crossed the same way, same same and birds of a feather agreeing together, of one mind.
when duterte travel overseas ang daming entourage, the travel to israel he has 400! sa tete a tete duterte only has panelo, I can imagine would be interviewers declining, dont want to be seen with them, lol!
pero, seriously, dapat may panel of interviewers, three of them to be exact. one from pcoo, health sec duque be there in person as well as one of duterte’s finance officer. they could have presented a better round robin of talks, more exciting and probly more meaningful than just panelo asking pre-determined questions previously submitted.
and overall comment ko po is that duterte’s age is showing, he’s stiff and slow to move na and at 72 he’s no longer agile in both in mind and body. maybe it’s time for duterte be kind to himself, and resign. leave the fast pace job to others more capable or calida will make a puppet out of him.
Duterte’s afraid of the questions that independent media will ask, so he just had his lackey ask predetermined questions. Their ploy backfired and everyone, except state-controlled media/personalities laughed at this contrived tete-a-tete.
Again, palpak as in the Trillanes debacle! Hahaha!
the trillanes debacle, I heard na ang amnesty papers ni trillanes kept in safety sa dept of natl defence were missing. apparently, on calida’s request, lorenzana has surrendered the papers to calida days before the arrest order was issued.
I was thinking tuloy, maybe calida did the same with sereno’s salns held in UP. kaya, sereno’s salns went missing and could not be located. at the time, no one suspected anyone in UP of involvement.
lest, lorenzana was honest and came forward about the missing amnesty papers, but no one in UP came forward about sereno’s missing salns. there must still be people in UP who are secret supporters of the dark side, considering the president of UP himself welcomed imee marcos last time she was in UP, pasayaw-sayaw sa sk meeting, the UP president dating sk member yata.