As we suspected, he was only joking.
READ: President Rodrigo Duterte promises to stop swearing (for the nth time)
On Fri, Nov 4, President Rodrigo Duterte delivered a speech at an event hosted by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.
“Duterte said only fools would believe his ‘joke’ that God talked to him and made him promise to stop cursing,” reports ABS-CBN News.
Duterte was quoted as saying, “Ang mga buang, naniwala rin. Hindi naman ako bar topnotcher, pero di naman ako ganoong kagago.”
(“Those fools fell for it. I’m not a bar topnotcher, but I’m not that stupid.”)
It may be recalled that last Oct 27, Duterte revealed in his arrival speech at the Davao International Airport that he experienced what seemed to be a divine intervention while he was on the plane on the way back to the Philippines from Japan.
Duterte had related, “I was looking at the skies while I was coming over here and I just — everybody was asleep, snoring — but a voice said that, ‘You know, if you don’t stop epithets, I will bring this plane down now.'”
Duterte had theorized that the voice he supposedly heard was of divine origin. He went on to disclose, “And I said, ‘Who is this?’ So, of course, it’s God.”
He then declared, “A promise to God is a promise to the people.”
Well, that promise is a joke. As Duterte himself reminded everyone, “Ang paborito ko sa Davao magbiro ng kung ano-ano.”
(“My favorite activity in Davao was to tell all kinds of jokes.”)
