OPM artist Jim Paredes defended economist and broadcaster Winnie Monsod over the cursing she received from President Rodrigo Duterte after she praised the Duterte government in her column.
On a Twitter post, Paredes said that Duterte already “lost it” and always being in “anger mode.”
“The man has lost it completely. His only mode of existence is anger mode. That is it,” said Paredes.
Duterte’s reaction to Monsod’s praise: ‘F*** you!’ https://t.co/8PxwOd75Yg via @inquirerdotnet The man has lost it completely. His only mode of existence is anger mode. That is it.
— Jim (@Jimparedes) December 17, 2019
Yesterday, Panelo said that the President didn’t like what Monsod wrote in her Inquirer column, saying that he doesn’t like being “patronized.”
“Aren’t you surprised with that column? Aren’t you surprised this columnist is heaping praise on the President? From the time this President assumed office, she has not said any good word, and then suddenly there is praising. There must be some reason. Is she laying a predicate?” said Panelo.
“Anyway, the President asked me to give his response to this columnist. He said, ‘Tell her, I hate being patronized. FU’,” Panelo added.
Monsod is a known critic of the Duterte administration, but she praised and congratulated the President for his successful anti-poverty drive.
“Not since the Ramos administration has the war on poverty been so effectively pursued; it managed to reduce family and population poverty incidence by 8.8 and 8.3 percentage points respectively between 1994 and 1997,” she said.
She also has reminded the President that he also needs to reduce rural poverty.
“Anyway, congratulations again, Mr. President. May I just remind you that in the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, you target the decrease of rural poverty, not just total poverty. May we know how rural poverty fared? And since poverty is a mostly agricultural/rural phenomenon, as shown among others by the very low poverty incidence in the highly urbanized cities, tell us how the war on poverty has also fared in the agriculture sector. Hopefully, then, we can rejoice even more.” she said.