A compilation of my tweets on the second State of the Nation Address of President Rodrigo Duterte. This is SONA 2017 in 140 characters (max).
Yes, I am not a fan. If it isn't obvious yet. Yes, I did not vote for him. I didn't vote for any presidential candidate, period. None of them deserved my vote.
I realized at some point last year that I have become that person. You know that person who complains about everything that's going on in the country? That person who irks friends and followers on social media because of continuous rants it's almost necessary to unfollow? Yeah, that person.
And I didn't want to be one.
It wasn't my intention but I wasn't one to be quiet about what I see and hear. I don't like him, that much is clear. He probably doesn't like me either. I'm assuming but just to make me feel better I'm claiming that.
I have a very different idea of how my president should act. I have watched and heard leaders around the world conduct themselves in public. Most importantly, I have a very good idea of how older people should behave so the younger generation would do well with them as role models.
I did not grow up in a household where curse and foul words are okay. I did not grow up thinking those words are normal enough to be spoken on a regular basis. If any of you reading this knows someone from my family and knows firsthand he or she is not as proper as what I am trying to make them, remember I said I did not grow up hearing foul words at home. No, not in my house. I am not naive to think they don't either outside with friends and at work. It didn't happen with me within hearing distance, that much I'm sure.
If they did and still do, they probably are not on top of my favorite family members list.
I know of and use some. I'm not entirely clean of everything that may be considered bad words. I have the occasional S and D words slipping out of me; the Tagalog T and G but nowadays it's with the less mean (I think) E and I ending ones. Never directed directly to any person, that I'm conscious of. If I can't help it, I use the words parang and lang before and after the T and G words. I heard it said directly to me in school before and I didn't like it.
There was a time in high school when I caved. A small group in my class was so fond of the PI words, I thought fine. They practically used them in every sentence. I knew it was bad but in a moment of weakness, a lapse in judgment kind of thing. I embraced it. For a couple of days. A junior, yes, a junior told me off. I was a senior. He asked why I was using the words. It doesn't suit me then, so out of character. I'm a girl, first and foremost. I had no answers for him. The next day I completely erased them from my vocabulary.
I have a few more things I don't like about the president. His close relationship to questionable families and entities; his propensity to joke about women that often borders on being disrespectful; his breaking the laws of the land; and his handling of the drug war; but this is getting too long I have to end it. I probably need to write another piece to further explain myself.
I do recognize the fact he is the elected president of the Republic of the Philippines. A very popular one, even I have to acknowledge that. I'm just taking offense, constantly, of hearing him assault my ears with words I never wanted to hear. If I have children, and I'm very thankful I don't, I wouldn't want them around when the president delivers his speeches. Sorry, but no.
