Sara Duterte’s Character Flaws

Sara Duterte’s chaotic performance during the August 27 budget hearing validates what I have long suspected: that Sara is a flawed character, and she has nothing of substance to offer to the Filipinos. This is a bad omen given her ambition to run for president in 2028.

After several hours watching Sara on TV, I was shocked by her undisciplined behavior. I was stunned by her arrogance as she shamelessly attacked several legislators. I was dumbstruck by her stupidity.

Consider what Sara said in her opening statement: She questioned the Philippine National Police’s decision to remove 75 cops from her security detail. She also accused lawmakers of plotting her impeachment without any evidence. She appeared combative right from the very start of the hearing, determined not to answer any questions asked by the lawmakers.

In the wake of the interpellation, Sara brazenly accused Representative France Castro, who asked her about the Commission on Audit’s notice of disallowance of Php73M against her office, of being a convicted child molester. She also sarcastically named Representative Raoul Manuel the editor of her children’s book, “Isang Kaibigan,” when the latter noted grammatical errors and misinformation in the book.

She attacked Representative Rodge Gutierrez for questioning why the Office of the Vice President (OVP) was delayed in responding to the audit observation memoranda issued to the OVP over its confidential funds.

She was annoyed when Representative Bienvenido Abante reminded her that, as a resource person, she did not have any right to ask a question. Sara later accused the House of orchestrating a deliberate attack against the OVP.

The turn of events showed Sara’s ignorance of the separation of powers when she demanded that the presiding officer Representative Stella Quimbo be replaced and accused Quimbo of allowing snide comments from Makabayan lawmakers.

For reasons known only to her, Sara attended the budget hearing not to answer specific questions asked by the lawmakers, but to arrogantly and rudely attack the lawmakers with unspeakably vile responses and expected the lawmakers to agree with her. Her chaotic behavior reflected that of a brat who feels entitled, and, therefore, not accountable to anything or anybody whatsoever.

To put it bluntly, Sara’s manners that many Filipinos watched on national TV were crude and repulsive, so unbecoming of a vice president and supposedly a public servant.

Ever since Sara, as a mayor of Davao, made the national headlines when she punched a court sheriff, it’s not her style of politics that caught my attention, but the kind of person she is.

Being the country’s vice president, Sara’s character matters to me because her character traits, that include her moral compass, will guide whatever decision she makes.

As the early Greek philosophers preached, nothing was more important than one’s character and man (and woman) was expected to maintain the best character one possibly could to be a productive member in society.

Admittedly, I don’t agree with Sara’s position on the West Philippine Sea, her support for the fugitive Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, her lack of transparency on how she spent her confidential funds in eleven days. But my disagreement with her on these hot issues is probably due to differences in our values, experience, how our parents raised us, and even differences in political views.

However, nothing has demonstrated to me her profound character flaws more completely than her action(s) in the House budget hearing last August 27. All the character traits that I abhor in a politician I saw in Sara: temperamental, incompetent, disrespectful, narcissistic and feeling entitled. These character flaws make her unfit to hold any position in government.

Brigid Delaney, in one of her articles in The Guardian, wrote, “The corrosion of character in public life is part of a larger trend. These days the place you’re most likely to hear a deep assessment of someone’s character is when you’re at their funeral.”

I now have a “deep assessment” of Sara’s character without having to wait for her funeral.