Society has no place for the likes of Duterte

There is no other way to describe the incident last Friday in Davao City in which Mayor Sara Duterte rained punches on a hapless court sheriff by the name of Abe Andres than that it was a blatant and arrogant display of savagery and power.

A court in Davao ordered the demolition of squatter shanties in Agdao district and asked sheriff Andres to carry out its order. Duterte, on learning of the court order, called Andres to defer action for two hours until she arrives.

When Duterte failed to arrive at the appointed time, Andres gave the green light for the demolition to proceed. But the affected residents resisted and a riot ensued, just as Duterte arrived.

Fuming mad, Duterte broke up the demolition and began scolding both the residents and the demolition team, as well as the police who failed to keep the peace. Then she went for Andres with a barrage of punches.

For obvious reasons, Duterte being a woman and surrounded by burly bodyguards, Andres did not put up a fight and just tried to protect himself as best he could. But seeing their principal on the attack, the brainless bodyguards got into the act and violently subdued the sheriff.

By now the television news footages of Duterte on the attack, repeated over and over again, must have been seen by thousands, if not millions, of people all over the globe, thanks to postings on the Internet.

And it is good that the images have been widely disseminated, so that people can see for themselves why Duterte is not fit to be a mayor and should be suspended, if not fired. And being a lawyer, she should also be disbarred for her savage and warrantless attack on a law agent.

Andres had no authority to get into any arrangement with Duterte and was under no obligation to grant her request to delay the demolition for two hours. That he actually did was a matter of personal choice for which he may even have to answer for later.

But the sorest point of the whole sordid episode was the violence Duterte perpetrated on the person of Andres. She had no right to do that, either as a mayor, a lawyer, or a plain and ordinary person. Such savagery has no place in civilized society.

If you have any doubts about her savagery, go ahead, search for the video clips on the Internet, or watch the replays that television networks will not likely tire of as the story moves on with new developments.

But the development I would like to see is for her to be suspended at the very least, or kicked out as good riddance. And if she is disbarred for good measure, that would be one of the greatest days in Philippine legal history.

It would also be very interesting to find out how Noynoy Aquino would handle the situation. Duterte is his ally. His sister Kris Aquino personally went to Davao during the 2010 election campaign to woo the support of the Dutertes.

In fact, if I am not mistaken, it was during a rally in this Mindanao trip of Kris that her young son James innocently blurted out the name of Manny Villar when Kris put the mike to his mouth and asked him who his presidential candidate was.

Noynoy cannot wash his hands of the case and relegate the hot potato to somebody else, especially since the DILG of Jess Robredo already said it was going to investigate the incident. Noynoy’s “daang matuwid” has just come upon a roadblock and is being challenged.

This country has had enough of being unnecessarily shamed before the entire world under the watch of Noynoy. It is time he starts showing the sterner stuff. If he lets this opportunity pass, as he had done so many times before, this will be counted as yet another lie about him.