. . . A MAYOR AND A BROADCASTER

Last Friday, July 1, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte made the headlines for punching a sheriff in their place.

This is my understanding of the story. Sheriff Andres had court orders to demolish a privately owned area. Since there were flash floods going on in Davao, the Mayor who was in another place, personally called him to inform him that they will be there in about 2 hours and that they wait for her to arrive before doing anything.

But sheriff, who was strictly following court orders, went ahead with the demolition and so the riot happened. This was exactly what the mayor wanted to avoid. Despite the hordes of policemen and what-nots surrounding the place, the sheriff was not able to control the situation and several people were hurt.

Just like in the movies, Mayor Inday suddenly enters the scene. (This was all caught on tape, so it was hard not to get tangled up in the drama.) She starts with the policemen or at least maybe their head slash chief. She furiously asks why the riot was not controlled. Why people had to get hurt? Why were they not able to control the situation when they were supposedly policemen and armed, too!!! The policeman reasons out that this would not have happened if the demolition team did not proceed. At this, Duterte screams for the sheriff. (Images of Alice in Wonderland's Queen of Hearts cross my mind.) And then the queen's henchmen, looked for the man of the hour -- Sheriff Andres. She motions for him to come nearer and then BAM! Sucker punches all over!!! He tries to walk away but she calls for her boys to bring him back. More punches. She tells him I asked for 2 hours because I was solving a problem elsewhere. Two hours so I can get here and solve this one, too! She gestures to the crowd surrounding them, look at what you caused! Andres tries to reason out that he was just following orders. Duterte answers that she knows the landowners are wealthy, that he was holding court orders but she reiterates that she is the mayor and when they are already mayors, maybe they can talk.

Although I do not condone what she did (her father even thinks it was not enough), my heart says "you go, Girl!" I am sure a lot of women feel the same way, too.

Here comes Anthony Taberna saying he did not approve of what Duterte did to Andres because the punching will scar him for life. Why? Because it has already ruined his being a man, a father and a sheriff! Baloney!!! How chauvinistic can you get?! Ruin his being a man?! Actually his words were: Nadungisan na ang kanyang pagkalalake.. WTF! If he had any balls, he would have heeded the mayor's request for 2 hours of waiting time because she was the mayor and also out of respect for her being the head of the city. But no. He had to be a "man" and demolish. So now he has to lick his balls in public coz they've been sucker punched in by a lady. Boo-hoo!