Davao – Smoking can be dangerous

By Manny Piñol

A local tourist who was in Davao City during the celebration of the Kadayawan Festival and openly defied the city’s strict anti-smoking ordinance brought home with him unforgettable memories of a city known as one of the Safest in the World.

Sources close to Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte said one night during the week-long Kadayawan Festival held last month, a restaurant owner alerted the police of a Filipino tourist who insisted on smoking while drinking beer.

Told by the restaurant owner that smoking inside public places is prohibited in Davao City, the smoker defiantly asked: “On whose orders?”

“Bakit pera ba ni Duterte ang binibili ko ng sigarilyo?,” the smoker reportedly told the restaurant owner when informed that Mayor Duterte is very strict in implementing the Anti-Smoking Ordinance in the city.

(Why, am I using Duterte’s money in buying cigarettes?)

The arrogant response irked the restaurant owner who is a friend of the Mayor. He immediately alerted the police and asked them to inform Duterte personally of the defiant smoker.

When Duterte walked into the restaurant a few minutes later, the arrogant smoker turned ashen-faced and immediately dropped his cigarette and stepped on it.

Witnesses said Duterte calmly sat beside the smoker, pulled out a snub-nosed .38 revolver and poked it at the man’s crotch.

“Papiliin kita: barilin ko ang b…g mo, i-preso kita o kainin mo ang upos ng sigarilyo mo,” Duterte reportedly told the smoker.

(I will give you three choices: I shoot your b…ls, I send you to jail or you eat your cigarette butt.)

The smoker reportedly muttered “Sorry Mayor,” picked up his cigarette butt and swallowed it.

Witnesses said that before Duterte left, he told the smoker: “Never ever challenge the law.”

The defiant smoker, whose name was not released by Davao City police, made three discoveries the night he defied the Anti-Smoking Ordinance in Davao City.

First, the law applies to everybody in Davao City.

Second, Mayor Duterte is really strict in implementing the law.

Third, cigarette butts are tough and bitter when swallowed.

[Editor’s comment:] I have copied this article from Manny Piñol’s Facebook wall. Emmanuel F. Piñol is the former governor of North Cotabato. Today he is a politics and sports columnist for “The Manila Times”. If this story is really true, then the Philippines may face extreme changes, when Rodrigo Duterte becomes president next year.

[GARD]