President Rodrigo Duterte admitted on Monday night that his promise during the 2016 presidential campaign that he would travel by jetski to plant a Philippine flag on an island in the West Philippine Sea was only a joke, and those who believed it were stupid.
Explaining why he made the remark, Duterte said: “Alam mo, panahon ng kampanya ‘yon. Hindi siguro sanay itong mga g**o sa style ko sa kampanya, pati ‘yong bunganga ko ngayon.”
“So ‘yan ang istorya. Ngayon, paano ‘to? Paano? Panahon sa kampanya ‘yan. At saka ‘yong biro na ‘yon…we call it ‘bravado,’ ‘yong bravado ko that was just a pure campaign joke,” he added.
Duterte said those who believed his campaign “joke” were “really stupid.”
“Kung naniniwala kayo sa kabila, pati na siguro si (Antonio) Carpio—I would say that you are really stupid. Sige, maghanap ka ng tao dito magpunta ng jet ski. Hindi pa mag-abot pa ng ilang oras I would conk out in the middle of the sea,” he said.
“Ngayon kung — if you swallow it, my God, hindi na lang ako mag-comment ng ano. Sinong g**o? Alam ba ninyong hindi ako marunong maglangoy? E kung matumba ‘yang yawa na ‘yan, magkapa-kapa na ako. By this time, I would have been the late Rodrigo Duterte kung totohanan ‘yon,” he added.
The 2016 quote
During the Pangasinan leg of the presidential debates in 2016, Duterte said he would go to the disputed waters personally via jetski to plant a Philippine flag.
“Kapag sinabi [ng United Nations arbitral tribunal] na panalo tayo at ayaw ng China, I will not go to war. Pupunta ako sa China. Ngayon ‘pag ayaw nila, I will ask the Navy to bring me to the nearest boundary, diyan sa Spratly, sa Scarborough,” he said.
“Bababa ako at sasakay ako ng jetski, dala dala ko ang flag ng Filipino at pupunta ako dun sa airport [ng China] tapos itanim ko. I will say, ‘This is ours and do what you want with me,’” he added.
Duterte even said he was ready to be killed by the Chinese.
“I will stake that claim. Matagal ko nang ambisyon yan, na maging hero din ako. Pag pinatay nila ako doon bahala na kayo umiyak dito,” he said.
Duterte recently described the promise as “hyperbole.”
He won the 2016 polls with 16,601,997 votes, about six million more than second-placer Mar Roxas. John Ezekiel J. Hirro