Pisting Yawa Rodrigo Duterte and the Language of the Street

Abstract

The essay explores the role that language plays in explaining the consistently high popularity of President Rodrigo Duterte. It argues that far from being fearful of or threatened by the President, Filipinos find themselves in affinity with Duterte because both share the same languages of the street. The essay does so by looking at the effectiveness of Visayan and its variant “Davao Tagalog” in keeping the crowd and Duterte bonded together, and the different meanings Filipinos attribute to everyday obscenities that are generally missed by the “Duterte Studies Industry.” simultaneously