Photo: Handout from the Office of the President" width="100%" />
President Rodrigo Duterte isn’t the most fashionable dude, but he should know by now that it pays to look good when seeing a fellow world leader.
So when a disheveled Duterte showed up for a meeting yesterday with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev looking like a stoned teenager interviewing for an office temp job, one Czech journalist by the name of Pavel Vondra called him out on Twitter.
Vondra added that because of Duterte’s less-than-glamorous appearance, Russian netizens have been making fun of him.
“Rodrigo #Duterte showed up a bit unkempt for the meeting with the Russian PM Medvedev in Moscow and the Russian internet is having a blast: ‘Did he drink all night?’, ‘Did he just leave the pub?’, ‘Do Filipinos know what a (state visit) protocol is?’ people ask.”
Rodrigo #Duterte showed up a bit unkempt for the meeting with the Russian PM Medvedev in Moscow and the Russian internet is having a blast: “Did he drink all night?”, “Did he just leave the pub?”, “Do Filipinos know what a (state visit) protocol is?” people ask. #DuterteInRussia pic.twitter.com/U823KExjDW
— Pavel Vondra (@pavelvond) October 2, 2019
Predictably, Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo leapt to the president’s defense, telling ABS-CBN News that the chief executive “does not look unkempt. What those kibitzers refer to is the way he wore his tie. He loosened it up. He feels suffocated and very uncomfortable if the tie is tightly in place in the collar.”
The ever-loyal Panelo added that the president is “very hygienic,” and that his body — as if in a deodorant commercial — “emits a refreshing scent as observed by people who meet up close to him.”
To be fair, it’s not just Russian netizens who have complained about Duterte’s appearance. Replying to Vondra’s tweet, @patrissshh quoted Tom Ford’s dictum that “Dressing well is a form of good manners.”
He added: “Duterte obviously doesn’t have any.”
Dressing well is a form of good manners. – Tom Ford
Duterte obviously doesn’t have any.
— pat (@patrissshh) October 3, 2019
Filipino netizen @MaamSyj quipped that Duterte “always looks like someone forced him out of bed,” while fellow Twitter user @buwayahman exhorted the rest of the world not to tar the entire Philippine population with Duterte’s disheveled brush.
“Please don’t think that all Filipinos dress and act like him. Many of us here are embarrassed and ashamed of him,” they wrote.
Meanwhile, @Joshie0F5C said Duterte’s frumpy attire was “fine.”
“He doesn’t represent majority of filipinos anyway,” he added.
So, do you think the president needs someone to work on his sense of style? Tell us by leaving a comment below or tweeting to @CoconutsManila.
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