Davao City’s acting mayor, “Baste” Duterte, and PNP Chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III are bickering with one another, not due to a policy difference or a national issue, but because of wounded egos, which they agreed to settle through a boxing match. Not only is it petty, but it’s reprehensible. And if those who are supposedly running peace and order in the country act like this, then what order is the country to expect?
Public tantrums by public figures have long been a staple of Philippine politics, but it is tragic to see two grown men, one the head of a major city and the other the head of the country’s police bureau, acting like schoolboys jostling each other for who’s tougher. Being “Mayor” or “Chief” is to be presumed to be equipped with dignity, responsibility, and restraint. Instead, what the nation gets is a theatrical display of machismo, personal vendettas, and sheer disregard for the duties they are sworn to perform. What we’re witnessing is not leadership—it’s ego in uniform, flexing muscles instead of character.
Mayor Baste Duterte’s tirade against the deployment of the PNP Special Action Force in his city and calling Torre to resign would have been justified had he done it on the premise of legitimate grievances, vented through the appropriate channels. But diverting the PNP Chief during a press conference and challenging him to a fist fight is an act drawn from the depths of impulse and immaturity. It wasn’t a debate—it was a provocation. And when powerful men treat the state like their sandbox, the citizenry are mere collateral casualties.
But again, PNP Chief Torre is no innocent bystander himself. His mysterious yet snarky responses to Duterte’s taunts were burning the fire instead. As the chief policeman of the nation, he was meant to calm down the head, not ignite it. But rather than act the role of the cooler head, Torre opted to employ sarcasm rather than statesmanship. In an institution that already suffers from high crime rates and office politics, he believed that engaging in a war of words with a mayor was his time well spent. It’s a tragic squandering of his office, and more, a lost chance to show professionalism and maturity.
The whole charade is a diversion from serious governance. As two officials slug each other out with microphones and press statements, public safety, peace, and order in society, and institutional trust is all taken hostage. Davao, which used to be a bastion of discipline, is now becoming the stage for a soap opera in rapid time. And the Philippine National Police, which has to be above local politicking, is drawn into a drama that tarnishes it with its own credibility loss.
The core of the issue is that this is not an isolated incident. Too many of our officials, from barangay to national, view seats of power as personal crowns. They attack their critics instead of listening to them, they demand loyalty instead of public service, and they always look at themselves as kings, not as civil servants. What is dangerous is that when officials behave like children, they set the tone for the whole bureaucracy. When there are petty leaders, the institutions below them collapse with similar pettiness.
The drama in Philippine politics has always been present, but this latest form of immaturity is no longer entertaining—it is corrosive. Filipinos have been drilled time and again to respect and obey their leaders, but how can one show respect when said leaders themselves lose respect for anything other than machismo, ridicule, and drama? A country governed by egoistic thin skins is bound to trip, because good leadership involves the ability to take offense without hitting back in the same coin.
What this nation needs are leaders who realize that public service is not ego-boasting but a noble mandate. Administrators who cannot keep their mouths closed, curb their rage, or control their temper do not deserve the seats they hold. It’s time to elect leaders whose power doesn’t lie in their fists or sound bites, but in their capacity to hear, decide, and act with integrity, not reaction. The nation deserves grown-ups as legislators, not boys wearing big-boy suits.
