The charm of Digong Duterte

IT is, I think, lamentable that the public knows so little of presumptive President-elect Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte’s background. There have been colorful “profiles” or caricatures that highlight aspects of his character, but almost no attention is given to the 71-year-old mayor of Davao City’s personal story. “Behind my epithets, my curses,” he says time and again in interviews, and to the thousands who flocked to his campaign rallies and sorties, “there is a sad story and it is really the story of the Filipino people…Look at my back, you will see a Filipino hungry and sad.”

Of course, Mr. Duterte knows how to play to the crowd and his words here smack of campaign hyperbole, expertly delivered by a man who has been a professional politician for 40 years. But now that he is poised to govern the country for the next six years, it is really quite baffling to me how his personal past, which he repeatedly refers to as being one full of pain and sadness, has remained largely unscrutinized and unquestioned. Surely delving into the story of his past might shed some light on what drives the country’s new President?