A certain blog, du30marcosmedia.blogspot.com, has boldly claimed that a a Korean reporter has hailed President Rodrigo Duterte as “the best president of all time.”
The headline goes, “Viral na viral ngayon sa buong mundo na si President Duterte ang pinakamagaling na president at all time sabi ng Korean reporter.”
The blog was also shared on Facebook by several pro-Duterte pages, like this one.
The page claimed how impressed the Korean reporter was of Duterte that he even called the Filipino president as the best president in the world. The caption went on to say that the commendations are based on the fact that Duterte was true to his promises about catching drug lords, rapists and other criminals. The post also called for Duterte’s supporters to share this news to let everybody know about what the President did.
So, what exactly did the Korean reporter say about Duterte?
If you visit the blog, you’ll find a Facebook video of MBC News, a news program of a South Korean TV and radio networks.
The problem is that if you don’t speak Korean, you won’t understand anything that the Korean anchorman said in the news report that was uploaded to Facebook on August 1. There are no English subtitles at all.
What you can just see are pictures of a congested Philippine jail, video clips of a PNP operation, crime scenes of killings in the country, and drug suspects lining up to surrender. It also features a portion of Duterte’s SONA when he said his famous quote about not stopping campaign against drug personalities until the last one is put behind bars or “below the ground if they so wish.”
If you click on the “See Translation” on MBC News’s Facebook post, you’ll get a confusing English translation.
According to Google Translate, MBC’s Facebook post translates to this.
Some of the Filipinos in the comments section tried to explain what the Korean anchorman was saying, but we obviously cannot verify if what they are saying is true. Other Filipinos suggested reading the Koreans’ comments by clicking on “See Translation” to understand how they are taking this news.
But among the comments from the Koreans, someone mentioned something about “human rights” and “innocent people,” if the translations are accurate.
Some Facebook users complained about the news having no subtitle, though, while others expressed their confusion.
Another pro-Duterte Facebook page, Duterte Warriors, also posted the same MBC News, but with a variation of the other blog’s title as it says, “Duterte Top 1 at isa sa pinakamagaling na Presidente ng kasaysayan sa lahat ng bansa.”
As expected of his supporters, they showed their support and agreement with the post. As of writing, it has earned 20,000 reactions, more than 10,300 shares, and 978 comments.
And they obviously believed what the blog was claiming, judging from their comments.
When someone voiced out that it’s too soon for him to get that title, Duterte supporters branded him as “bitter.”
Duterte’s avid supporters might believe in the blogs’ claims, but there are just too many reasons to doubt those claims.
- Subtitles please?
We cannot verify whether the Korean anchorman really commended Duterte with the glorious title of being “the best president of all time,” as the blog claimed. Did he really go all out in praising Duterte or was he simply reporting the developments in Duterte’s war against drugs, leading to the congestion in city jails and the killings? We can come up with so many interpretations of the Korean report because we don’t understand a single thing that was said in it.
Here’s to hoping that whoever wrote the blog title asked for an accurate English translation of the Korean news report. Otherwise, they are simply deceiving the Filipinos, which is something that has happened since the election.
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- Koreans’ comments
Some of the Koreans may have good things to say about Duterte, based solely on the broken translation we saw in the comments section, but were all of them praising Duterte? As we went through the comments’ section, there were also Koreans who mentioned something about “innocent people” and “human rights.” They could have been concerned about the killings too, like some Filipinos are.
- Too soon
The title that the blog claimed to have been used to describe Duterte, as one commenter said, might have been given to him too soon. He just passed his first month in office as the President and now he’s considered “the best of all time”? You can even ask Google for a ranking and you won’t find Duterte’s name in there. There has never been an official ranking of the best presidents in the world. Would the Korean anchorman be so bold to bestow that title to Duterte? We guess not.
- Ramon Magsaysay as possibly the best Filipino president
If someone came close to being revered by the masses, the title could have gone to Ramon Magsaysay, who even got the nickname of “Idol of the Masses” or “Champion of the Masses.” FilipiKnow enumerated 6 reasons why Magsaysay can be considered as the best Filipino President in this article.
Some have compared Magsaysay and Duterte, like Mindanao Times’ June 15, 2016 article that said, “Magsaysay’s administration has been considered to be one of the cleanest and corruption-free in history – a feat that may be equaled or even surpassed by the incoming administration.” We can only hope that Duterte’s administration will be able to keep up with this level of expectation.
It’s good to feel optimistic about the current administration, but Duterte still has a long way to go until his term ends. Only then will we be able to evaluate if he could live up to the title of being a great president, but isn’t it too much too soon to call him “the best president of all time?” We can call him out, if needed, and commend him for his achievements, but let us not exaggerate things and mislead the people.
Sources: (filipiknow.net, biography.com, opinion.inquirer.net)
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