Never mess with the Pope

By Herbie Gomez

PRESIDENTIAL candidate Rodrigo Duterte is an interesting subject in the study of Philippine politics. I mean, since when did defecating in full public view become an acceptable behavior in the history of the civilized Filipino? Yes, Duterte stools every time he delivers a speech, smears everything he touches with his excreta, and repeatedly breaks wind on our laws.

What is disturbing is that every time he does this, his spin doctors almost always manage to make intelligent people suspend their critical thinking ability and join the naive in the cheering crowd. That was until Duterte grimed on the innocent Pope Francis whom the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines see not just as a head of another state but as the representative of Christ on earth.

That’s the problem with impunity. For years, the nation merely watched with indifference as Duterte built a political dynasty in Davao with his zit smack dab in the middle of the twilight zone between humor and vulgarity. We merely saw that as entertainment, and laughed as we watched Duterte behave like a drunk cussing loudly while pee-peeing in the middle of the busy street. Apparently, he realized that the entertainment he provided–his foul-mouthed chauvinist and street smart Dirty Harry image projections–worked to his advantage.

Somehow, he got away with it until he pushed it a little farther and in the process, hit a nerve so sensitive that by the time he and his spin doctors realized that it was a big mistake, the irreversible damage was already done. The “sin” of using a Catholic demigod’s name in vain is a mortal sin no politician after of Filipino votes should ever commit.

Last week, we saw Duterte in panic mode. One moment, Duterte was apologetic. The next, he and his spin doctors subjected priests to tongue-lashing. Out of the blue, he then made a claim that he was “abused” as a child by an Ateneo de Davao priest or priests–yes, Jesuits. Was it a deeply rooted anger towards the Jesuit order represented by no less than Pope Francis? I doubt. It looked more like Duterte’s defense mechanism.

All of a sudden, Duterte finds himself battling against the same unreason or misplaced and twisted reasoning that catapulted him to national fame or infamy (depending on how one looks at it). The fact is, he vented on Manila’s traffic mess and in the process, whether in jest or not, called the Pope’s mother a woman of ill repute.

We’re used to hearing profanity and obscenity everywhere, and Duterte effectively used this language to connect with the ordinary man on the street. But Filipinos are simply not used to hearing loud cussing inside churches. That is simply taboo even in whispers. That, in a way, was what Duterte did when he used the Pope as a prop for his show.

For a country with a Roman Catholic population of some 81 percent or even more, the expletive was uncalled for and definitely a no-no. Of course, that was considered very offensive by people who see the papacy as sacred. One doesn’t need reason to explain this kind of aversion. It’s simply how religion programmed people to react.

I guess it would be safe to say that many Filipino voters, educated or unlettered, have been indoctrinated since childhood to accept without questions the assertion that wafer transforms into flesh, and Mompo wine into blood, or that the reason for all the bad things we see in our planet today is because once upon a time, there was a talking snake. The same mindset became evident when John Lennon said that The Beatles was “more popular than Christ.” No amount of explanation, reasoning or contextualization by any Beatle appeased the religious. We know now that Lennon’s words were taken out of context, and that he did not really mean it that way. Yet we still hear many religious people, including priests and preachers, blaming Lennon’s shooting death on that particular pronouncement like there is no chance for any human being to die a violent death unless he blasphemed. So there, that is exactly the kind of unreason and mindset that Duterte would be dealing with between now and Election Day 2016.

Duterte is turning what Donald Trump has become in US politics today–a joke, a nightmare, and an openly fascistic and undisputed Republican presidential nomination frontrunner whose ratings have startled even seasoned political analysts because his style is nowhere to be found in any book about the art of political war.

But perhaps the seeds of Duterte’s initial success, like Trump’s, were sowed over the course of many years, and all the ugly things he has been displaying for the entire country to see have been with us all along, and flowing through the nation’s political bloodstream for quite some time already. Other politicians simply have the decency not to flaunt their ugliness. But not Duterte.

It’s about time Duterte told this nation if he has a plan aimed at promoting good manners and right conduct if he becomes President.

Pastilan.