"‘I am a Duterte but not his kind of Duterte,’ says this psychiatrist."
The following is the continuation of journalist Christian Esguerra’s interview with Nuelle Duterte, a New Zealand-based psychiatrist and a niece of President Rodrigo Duterte.
In the whole interview, Nuelle makes the following points:
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She says Duterte has always been a bad mouth and that he kills people. She is disillusioned with his presidency.
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The President’s quarrel with his daughter Sara is not for real.
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His daughter Sara is not competent to become president because of temperament, discipline, patience, and integrity issues. “I don’t think that she would be able to handle all the things that she’ll be required to handle with that office,” Nuelle asserts.
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Duterte and his children will never give up Davao where they are treated as royalty. “They were made king and queen.”
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Nuelle feels she should speak up now.
Here is the rest of the interview:
Esguerra: Do you feel a sense of vindication you were correct with your warnings way back in 2016?
Duterte: Hindi naman ako nag-predict pero well, prinidict ko yung kanyang mouth—internationally it would not be received well. I mean, my friends from Davao, the one who supported him actually did tell me—you know—"give him a chance. Tignan mo lang what would happen.”
Yun nga lang, first year pa lang ang dami nang namamatay. Andami nang scandals?—I guess—although I don’t think they consider them scandals you know—deaths—here and there. Political prosecution of Sen. De Lima. It was so ugly. So, that—I kinda predicted.
Esguerra: How do you feel about it now?
Duterte: I was really disillusioned. I still am—disillusioned but people that I know—relatives considered this okay pagka nasa pulitika ka that is sometimes necessary to do.
Disillusioned by a lot of people that I thought were smart and insightful—apparently hindi pala masyado.
Esguerra: Like who?
Duterte: Politicians? Karlo Nograles. That was really disappointing.
Esguerra: Why?
Duterte: Because he is so smart. He is—so smart.
Esguerra: President Duterte will run for vice president. What do you think of this?
Duterte: After I kept saying in 2015—no, he’s not going to win or he’s not going to run—I’m just gonna wait and see kasi he might actually do it.
Esguerra: Talaga bang ganyan si President Duterte?
Duterte: I think he means what he says at the time that he said it. So, at the moment that he says it, naniniwala siya doon. And then later, depending on the reactions—it can be a joke or it can be serious.
Esguerra: As a psychiatrist, how would you describe his personality?
Duterte: Whatever comes out of his mouth at the moment, he really does believe it at the moment like he’s being truthful—at the moment. He may change his mind two seconds later, but in the moment what he says is—he means what he says.
Does he lie? I don’t think it would be considered a lie because as I’ve said, he really believes it. Like, yes, he does change stories. Paiba-iba yan.
Esguerra: Do you know some close relatives na somehow biglang nagising na?
Duterte: Close relatives? I know I have relatives who regret voting for him. Not enough—relatives who regret. But yes, there are some who really changed their mind. But there are also others who—you’ll never get them to admit it. For some relatives kasi, it’s beneficial to keep quiet or to be on that side.
Esguerra: How about Sara Duterte? Do you think she will go for it?
Duterte: At this point, given all the things that they’ve been putting out on media, social media—yeah, she will.
Yes, once you taste power, it’s hard to let it go you know—Probably the reason why kaya hindi nila napapakawalan yung Davao because—I mean, why should they? They have it all there. They are treated as royalty. Ginawa silang parang hari at reyna.
I don’t think that she would be able to handle all the things that she’ll be required to handle with that office
Esguerra: Si Sara, is she even competent to serve as president?
Duterte: As president? I don’t believe so. I don’t think she has the temperament, actually, No. 1. To be president of the country because that requires a great deal of discipline, patience, integrity.
So, I don’t think that she’s able to handle all the things that she’ll be required to handle with that office.
Esguerra: Between Sara and the father, who do you think would be better?
Duterte: Neither. Mostly, because they are very—without one, you can’t have the other—parang ganun.
Esguerra: Hindi ba masyadong garapal yun? Sara Duterte running for president and President Duterte running for vice president?
Duterte: But they’ve done lots of things that are really not great for the last five years. They’ve been involved in all sorts of expose or media attention that doesn’t show you know, damning in a good light but they don’t seem to care.
I think this is a play to see how people would react.
Somebody wrote on Twitter that this new—what she had written on her social media was to appeal to the ones not sold to the president anymore and want somebody more restrained I guess than he’s been.
But one does not exist without the other.
Esguerra: You think President Duterte will endorse the daughter?
Duterte: Yes, because he would endorse anyone who can protect him.
Esguerra: Do you have no plans on returning to the Philippines?
Duterte: None at the moment.
When I left, (it) was career-based. Returning would actually not be fruitful career-wise. No. 1, I have the name. That’s why actually, partly why I left Davao too is because of the name. It would be hard to be a psychiatrist with that name practicing in the Philippines. Unless we have a different kind of system—healthcare system.
No. 2, when you build your own practice and one of the things that I really, really absolutely hate is it’s not based on what you can do, but based on what your name is.
Esguerra: Describe the past five years of the Duterte administration
Duterte: Depressing and exhausting.
Esguerra: In 2022, what would you tell the voters regarding Duterte’s cabinet or perhaps even himself?
Duterte: What I want to do now—push forward the other option. Giving light to what the other option can do. What can be better instead of what’s going on?
I like promoting Leni because I really believe that she can be a better option. So, that’s what I do.
Esguerra: Speaking of Leni Robredo, what do you think of the way the President has been treating her?
Duterte: Not really unusual in the sense that’s the kind of how he treats—that’s kind of the way he dismisses women who are not important to him. Or actually, sometimes even the ones important to him.
I am a Duterte but not his kind of Duterte.
I think there’s always hope.
