Foul- mouthed Philippine President says he promised God not to curse anymore
October 27, 2016
Blog #6
What is the situation?
This article is about the president of the Philippines and how he promised God that he was not going to curse anymore. In recent events he once called the pope a “son of a b***” and he told Barack Obama “ to go to hell.” President Rodrigo Duterte’s foul mouth has become a trademark of his political persona as he includes profanity in most of his speeches. He commonly uses profanities when threatening to kill drug dealers as part of his war on illegal drugs that has left thousands dead since he took office at the end of June. He gave this speech in his southern hometown of Davao city, he shared his story about how he received revelation from God while flying back home from Japan that he needed to stop cursing and made a promise to God that he would. Duterte’s vote was met with applause as the people of the Philippines showed care and support towards his new resolution.
How did PR handle the situation?
Duterte’s PR team shared his story of when he received revelation from God that he needed to stop cursing. In the article he says “he said that while flying home, he was looking at the sky while everyone was sound asleep and he heard a voice that said “‘if you don’t stop epithets, I will bring this plane down now.”
“And I said, ‘Who is this?’ So, of course, ‘it’s God,'” he said.
“So, I promise God to … not express slang, cuss words and everything. So you guys hear me right always because (a) promise to God is a promise to the Filipino people.”
What would you have done differently in this situation?
If I was Duterte’s PR team I would of not mentioned the story about him receiving revelation from God, just because it’s a sensitive topic especially for those that do and do not have a belief in God. I would have just released a statement that Duterte will stop cursing and wants to improve to be a better person and a better president to the people in the Philippines and just highlight on the fact that he wants to do a better job at serving and helping the people in the Philippine. Also that he wants to start with the little things in his life including cursing, so that he can be a better person.
DYLAN LOO 