When his grandchild was bullied in school, Duterte chose hands-off approach

At the peak of the campaign season, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was under fire for his controversial revelations. Among those controversial revelations involved Duterte shooting his classmate in San Beda College’s law school.

In his speech at a campaign sortie in Iloilo City last Apr 19, Duterte had the crowd in awe when he declared, “Sa totoo lang, sanay ako mag-baril ng tao. Mag-graduate na lang kami sa San Beda, may binaril akong tao (The truth is, I’m used to shooting people. When I was about to graduate from San Beda, I shot someone).”

READ: Duterte claims he shot ‘bully’ frat brod in San Beda back in 1972

Apparently, Duterte shot a fellow member of the Lex Talionis fraternity back in 1972. The person was identified as Octavio Goco, who had allegedly bullied for being “Bisaya.” A Philippine Daily Inquirer report revealed that “Goco was hit, but not killed.” The incident was settled because the school authorities didn’t want a scandal, but Duterte was not allowed to join the graduation rites.

Interestingly, in another more recent story involving a bully, Duterte decided to go for the “hands off” approach.

In a Feb 4, 2015 report filed from Davao City, Mindanews reported: “Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte said he won’t be interferring in an issue involving his granddaughter allegedly being bullied by another pupil in a private school here.”

Duterte’s granddaughter being referred to in the report is the daughter of Vice Mayor Paolo Z. Duterte.

When Mayor Duterte was asked about the issue, he simply stated, “The child has a father. Let him deal with the problem.”

For his part, Paolo had  written his daughter’s school asking for intervention into an alleged bullying case.

Mindanews noted: “Paolo’s daughter has complained to him several times that a pupil, a boy who is also a minor, allegedly hurt her several times. He had stabbed her with a scissor and twisted her arm. The boy was also bullying other kids.”

Paolo was quoted as saying, “I have already reached out to the parents of the child. I asked them if they were willing to go to jail for their child, because I am.”

Paolo went on to emphasize that the bullying issue “was a personal matter between him and another family and does not involve the Office of the Vice Mayor.”



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