Cry havoc!

AND LET slip the maddened mongrel. A paraphrase of that line in the Bard’s Julius Caesar applied aptly to Rodrigo Duterte.

He howls: "Ang atake sa akin is pumapatay ng tao. Totoo 'yan, wala tayong problema diyan. Yang mga taga Davao, alam nila yan."

Citing one specific case: "They kidnapped a Chinese girl, they brought her to another province, repeatedly raped her, tapos isinauli nila... Kumain pa yung mga unggoy doon sa bahay, nagpaluto. Pagbaba nila, tinapos ko talaga lahat."

"Tinapos ko talaga. Sabi ko, p---na nito, ito ang killing na maganda. Pumorma pa talaga ako na parang Fernando Poe."

That’s one “good kill” deserving an explosive ending: "Tapos kinarga ko sila doon sa kotse nila, binuksan ko yung tangke, sinunog ko to show my brutality. Kaya nga sabi ko, I'm doing this for everybody — to the criminals and to the bad elements, and to those who continue to oppress the Filipino people. Hindi ako nagpapa-hero, wala akong talent, but I will not allow you to continue na magpahirap sa Pilipino. Crime has to stop.”

Murder most foul. Crime solved by crime of the more heinous kind.

He woofs: “Kung sabihin ninyo, ‘Ano bang credentials mo? Ano bang pakita mo sa Pilipinas, Duterte? Balita namin babaero ka.’ Tama. May asawa ako, may pangalawang asawa ako.”

And more: “Dalawa ang girlfriend ko. Gusto niyo ako maging presidente? Kailangan niyo malaman ang pagkatao ko."

Even if elected: "Buksan ko ang libro ng Malacañang. Kung may magagandang naghihintay diyan sa labas, buksan ko 'yung pinto ng kwarto ko,"

Abject objectification of women. Unbridled machismo that Gabriela denounced “reinforces the society’s low regard of women and consequently increases women’s vulnerability to violence and abuse.”

Flagrant flouting of the Commandments – the Fifth and the Sixth in the above-cited instances – and fanciful flaunting of his atrocities, do not make Duterte sincere and honest, as his apologists contend. They only make him ultra full of himself.

Hubris, as the Greeks of old put it.

Which explains now Duterte’s profanity directed at Pope Francis: “Sabi ko, ‘Bakit?’ Sabi sarado na [ang daan]. Sabi ko, ‘Sinong darating?’ Sabi si Pope. Gusto kong tawagan, ‘Pope, p—na ka, umuwi ka na. ‘Wag ka nang bumisita dito.”

No, Duterte did not feel he owed anyone any apology: “It was my expression of anger borne out of the helplessness of the millions of commuters suffering from this daily gridlock. It was never intended to be directed to the person of his holiness Pope Francis, who has my utmost respect.”

So, who is referred to by the personal pronoun “ka” – you – appended to the expletive and the dismissive commands? The traffic gridlock? 

Even more manifest there is that everyone is fair game to Duterte’s cursing.

Which he vainly justified thus: “We are all the creations of God. We have God-given talents. The talent that God gave me is cussing. Instead of blaming me, blame God because He created me.”

He could have as easily, and more understandably, scapegoated: “The devil made me do it!” But no, it has to be no one less than God Himself that has to take the blame for Duterte’s human frailty. Aye, it can only be hubris. If not blasphemy, as the Second Commandment decrees.  

A righteous rebuke Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Soc Villegas, president of the  Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines issued: “…Vulgarity is corruption. When we find vulgarity funny, we have really become beastly and barbaric as a people. When a revered and loved and admired man like Pope Francis is cursed by a political candidate and the audience laughs, I can only bow my head and grieve in great shame. My countrymen have gone to the dregs.”

Unleashing in Duterte his rabid odium ecclesiae: “I will destroy the Church and the present status of so many priests and what they are doing…You priests, bishops, you condemn me and suggest I withdraw, but then I will start to open my mouth. There are so many secrets that we kept as children. Do not force (me to speak) because this religion is not so sacred.”

So full of arrogance. So consumed by pride. So Duterte. So supra hubris. 

Most unfortunately for Duterte, hubris is a one-way street – to nemesis.

Or, as Proverbs 16:18 holds: “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Best yet is the universal truth impacted in that ancient heathen proverb: “Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.”

A Duterte presidency?

Spare us, Dear Lord, your own cry in Calvary: Eli, eli lama sabbachthani.