If Rodrigo Duterte will have his way, Ramon Bautista would not have been declared persona non grata in Davao City.
In an interview with Kontrabando before the election, the incumbent Davao City mayor said he's friends with Ramon.
It can be recalled that during the celebration of the Kadayawan Festival in 2014, Ramon compared the women in Davao to "hipon," the colloquial term for a person who is only attractive from the neck down.
His joke did not sit well with the Davaoeños as well as Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte and Mayor-elect Sarah Duterte.
Read: Ramon Bautista gets flak after calling Davao women 'hipon'; comedian apologizes
Ramon was asked to go back on stage to apologize, and he also wrote another public apology through his Instagram account.
Despite this, he was still declared persona non grata.
Almost two years later, Duterte told Kontrabando how he tried dissuading his children.
"Sabi ko nga, pati sa mga anak ko, nag-sorry na kasi.
"'Tapos gusto nila i-declare na persona non grata, sabi ko, 'Yong tao, humingi na ng apology.'”
Duterte further stressed, “Tama na 'yon. Kasi kung sinabi mo na hindi siya papuntahin sa Davao, you cannot do that, he's a citizen of the republic.
“At bakit mo naman... Nagsabi na 'yong tao ng sorry, e.”
In conclusion, Duterte said, “Para sa akin, kapag nagsabi ka na ng sorry...Huwag lang drug lord, ay p***** i**, lalong patayin kita.”
Ramon, who supported Mar Roxas during the election, had never spoken about the issue even when teased sometimes by his Kontrabando co-hosts Lourd De Veyra and Jun Subayton.