Social media sensation Ethan Llanes, the four-year-old Filipino boy in the United Kingdom who made waves in the interwebz with a video showing him upset and demanding to see the Rodrigo Duterte, and another one where he asks the Philippine president to put the bad guys in jail, worships the former Davao mayor the way boys his age worship Stephen Curry and Justin Bieber.
On Aug 25, Ethan and his mom flew to Davao to get a glimpse of Duterte, but the closest they got was a standee displayed outside his home in the Matina district.
A week later, on Aug 30, Ethan and mom Mylene’s luck changed.
Duterte himself invited the boy to drop by Malacañan Palace, where he personally greeted his young fan.
(Mobile users may watch the video here)
“This is Ethan my friend… We’re good friends,” said the president when he introduced his special guest to media. He then explained to Ethan that they were at his workplace and that it’s called People’s Palace.
Ethan also obliged the president when the 71-year-old leader wanted to play a game of peekaboo. “You’re going to be a great guy someday,” Duterte told him.
The experience was surreal for both Ethan and Mylene.
“The President commanded such presence that it was just simply breathtaking being in the same room with him,” Mylene shared on a post on her Facebook page.
“Even the typically noisy little Ethan became shy and timid (for the first time). I asked him later in the car if he was feeling okay as he was rather quiet during the meeting with Tatay Digong. He said he was ‘very nervous’ as the President was ‘SO REAL,’” she said.
Here’s one of Ethan’s videos.
