Kissing bandit

Cesar Gorillo .

A FUNNY thing happened during President Digong’s visit to Korea.  There, our president stood up like an innocent high school student waiting for a very embarrassed girlfriend to offer her lips for a kiss. There was a deafening tension as the crowd waited for two lips to bury into each other while the woman, married to a South Korean, tried to fight her seeming apprehension at the president’s request but not hiding her tremendous excitement. The crowd loved it. They had never seen that kind of drama in their whole lives. And so with many of the Filipinos who are already used to the many antics of their beloved president just to entertain the crowd.

And I loved it, too. So uncommon, so unconventional, so uncharacteristic of a president of a republic, and so funny.

But the usual critics were not amused. They called him a sexist and an opportunist who likens himself to an authoritarian dictator who could kiss anybody at his will because his subjects are afraid to say no.

But what was wrong with that kiss?  It was in front of a crowd for all to see.  Thus, it can always be considered a social kiss. And the people loved it.  And it would be a tremendous honor for a woman who was definitely a fan of the president to have been a recipient of a presidential kiss.

The problem with some people is that they put too many restrictions on presidential actions without considering the manner it was done in what type of crowd. That crowd was composed of Filipinos working in a lonely place like South Korea who trooped to that place just to see their beloved president. And for a president to request for a kiss from a Filipina without any malicious intentions is a sight that can never be seen in decades, even in history. If I were a husband of that woman, it would be a great honor for me and I would frame that picture at the entrance to my home.

This president we have is one who does away with the many protocols that often impede his communication with his beloved people. He comes to us as a person just like any of us, a man in the streets and no advice from the best experts in protocol, proper conduct, decorum and what have you can stop him. He has thrown a lot of prepared speeches because he cannot stand the prospect of reading from a written speech prepared by his advisers at the cost of allowing him to fail to communicate what is in his heart. He loves to curse and that’s it.

We have already produced a lot of leaders with the best training in protocols, good manners and accepted diplomacy. But sadly, they stole our money, never solved our drug problem, allowed lawless people to lord over our land and hid many of their crimes from the face of our people.

But here comes Digong who loves to kiss women in public, who curses a lot and whose manners and right conduct are always the negative subjects of the usual critics but who have done nothing for our country.

I’d rather have a kissing bandit for a president than a very well-mannered one who steals my country’s money without me even knowing about it.