NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews /28 July) — Baste Duterte, mimicking his father’s reckless bravado, without any provocation, dared in his social media post, PNP Chief General Nicolas Torre III, to a fistfight.
Torre, then the director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, led the enforcement of the arrest warrant for the Davao acting mayor’s father and former President Rodrigo Duterte last March, and surrendered him to the International Criminal Court. His appointment in the national police did not sit well with the Duterte family and the supporters of the former President.
Baste’s bold statement was more of an expression of a lingering gripe rather than a challenge.
It was a reckless ego-boosting statement, the Digong Duterte brand of bluster, threatening violence against anyone who crossed his path. It was empty hooliganism and machismo at play for clout on a platform with a captive audience. It wasn’t supposed to be a challenge.
But Nicolas Torre III believed otherwise.
On July 23, asked about Duterte’s claims of beating Torre in a fistfight, Torre responded with a counterproposal – a regular 12-round boxing match to raise funds for the typhoon and flood victims in the country. It would be held at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on Sunday, July 27. Torre arranged with the Stadium management for the said event, complete with an undercard to their feature bout. Torre solicited sponsors for each round to secure more funds. Former PNP chief Senator Ping Lacson responded with a donation equivalent to his one-month retirement pension as a police officer.
Torre hit the gym to prepare for the fight, and his handlers showed video clips of his training to prove the general’s seriousness in accepting the challenge. The Rizal Memorial Stadium was flooded with thousands of spectators on Sunday.
The Torre-Duterte boxing for a cause sold handsomely. Over P20M in cash aid was raised and relief goods started to gather in no time at all.
The officer of the law was ready to rumble. But the challenger from Davao ran away, his tail between his legs and nowhere to be found.
It seems cowardice is hereditary. Baste was no different from his father Digong, who dared broadcast journalist Waldy Carbonell to a duel in 2003 but was in no-show at the appointed time and place.
Waldy Carbonell was then in Davao to investigate the murder of Davao City-based journalist Jun Pala. Duterte was Davao City’s mayor at that time.
Of course, Digong became more resolute when he became president with the entire state security forces behind him. He killed what he promised to kill, and by the thousands at that, entitling him to a free plane ride to, and a lifetime vacation at The Hague.
Baste has no way of becoming president of the Republic. With his behavior, he would remain a sanggano – a street corny bully of Davao City for some stretch.
“Kung ano ang puno, yon din ang bunga.” Almost in Baste’s case. He has Digong’s big bunganga(mouth) and cowardice. (MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental)
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