Ironfist Duterte, Afraid of Ghosts

I was flipping through the pages of our local newspaper SunStar Davao this morning when I came over their cover story entitled 'Malacañan Ghosts' written by Stella A. Estremera.

It was about why presumptive President Rodrigo Roa Duterte will only be holding office at Malacañan BUT not living there. Then, he was quoted saying, "In the Palace? Maraming mumu doon! Totoo (Me live in the Palace? There are lots of ghosts there. It's true)" and recalled a memory he had on the place.

 He said he had been invited in there sometime ago past midnight by then erstwhile President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo whom he served as consultant for law and order. He said he was ushered into a sala inside Malacañan where the portraits of past presidents are hung to wait for Arroyo to dress up.

"It's really giddy," he said. "Kasi when I went inside , tiningnan ko yung mga mukha nila, there were several poses. Yung mga mata nila nakatingin somewhere else.. eye in front. I was waiting there in the sala and the wind was... either malakas yung aircon or talagang meron. Nung tumingin ako... nakatingin sila sa akin lahat. Put--na. Lalabas ako dito."








I laughed so hard upon reading it that my supervisors peeped on me, confused by my sudden outburst. It was so funny! Considering I had this super macho image of him holding a gun like what social media portrays him to be and riding a super cool big bike and then an image of him shriveling from the thought of ghosts just cracks me up. I mean c'mon...

Yeah. Duterte might be a ruthless disciplinarian and not afraid of anyone except God, but well ghosts are really scary.