VM Pulong defends father on rape joke
By NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO
Vice Mayor Pulong Duterte came to the defense of his father Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who is mired in a firestorm of criticisms after his controversial joke of a rape victim.
“Firstly it wasn’t a joke. It was a narration of events which transpired 27 years ago but nevertheless if it was a joke I would still root for him. Not only because he is my father but I strongly believe that one should not be judged by the words he say but by the acts he has done,” the younger Duterte told Edge Davao yesterday.
The younger Duterte is throwing his full support for his father who currently leads most surveys in the presidential derby.
He has stepped up to the challenge of the grueling campaign in view of the numerous black propaganda hurled against Mayor Duterte, the most recent of which is the latter’s comments on the rape of an Australian missionary which happened in 1989.
Those who covered the hostage-taking by rogue inmates in that 1989 incident recalled that Mayor Duterte, in his first term as Mayor, even offered himself as hostage in exchange of the missionaries.
Vice Mayor Duterte has joined the campaign trail of his father Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in Luzon as election swings into its final 22 days.
The Vice Mayor has been silently campaigning these past few weeks but decided to reinforce the Duterte campaign team.
“He is my father and like the majority of our country, I too, want him to be the father of this great nation,” Pulong said.
