Duterte on being president: I cannot be 'bastos' because I'm speaking for our country

DAVAO CITY — A day after election, presumptive president, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, said he will do away with his usual profanities once he steps into Malacañang.

"I need to control my mouth," Duterte said on the television program of his friend Pastor Apollo Quiboloy on Sonshine Media early on Tuesday.

Duterte was talking about how he will behave in front of diplomats and other foreign officials.

"I cannot be bastos because I am speaking for our country. If you are the president of the country, surely you need to be prim and proper, prim and proper na almost maging holy na ako,” he said.

Partial, unofficial counts showed that Duterte is set to win the presidency in a landslide. His top rivals Grace Poe and Mar Roxas have both conceded the race to him.

Duterte made headlines on local and international media because of his profanity-laced tirades during campaign speeches and public appearances. He caused a firestorm in the month leading up to the polls with his remarks about the rape of an Australian missionary in a Davao prison hostage incident in 1989.

But all the controversies have failed to dampen his popularity among voters, more than a million of whom showed up to his miting de avance in Luneta two days before the elections.

His common-law wife Honeylet Avancena, meanwhile, said that the tough posturing and profane language was all just part of the electoral circus.

"The character that he projected during the campaign was the character very appropriate for the campaign period kasi awayan iyan eh. Presidency, are you still going to don such character when you should act like a statesman?" she said early Tuesday morning.

Describing the campaign as a battle between lions and tigers, Avanceña said Duterte needed to put on his tough hat to survive.

"Pero ano siya, he respects the position. Presidente na siya ng Republika ng Pilipinas. Lawyer siya eh. Alam niya iyong pinasok niya. Alam niya iyong panghahawakan niyang position," she said.  — VVP/JST, GMA News