If President Rodrigo Duterte was just joking about riding a jet ski to islands in the West Philippine Sea to claim it for the country, then he is a joke, a fisherman who asked the would-be Chief Executive about that during the 2016 presidential campaign said Wednesday. Speaking to ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo, Carlo Montehermozo took offense to Duterte’s recent clarifications about the “bravado” of his statements on the disputed waterway and in challenging Chinese incursions there. “Kaming mga mangingisda dito, masama ang loob namin. Ba’t gano’n lang, joke joke lang ‘yong sinabi niya sa akin noon? (The fishermen here are angry that what he said to me was just a joke.)” Montehermozo, who is based in Infanta, Pangasinan, told the radio program.

Fisherfolk take offense over Rody's 'campaign joke'. (2021, May 13). Manila Standard, pp. A1, A2.