REPORTING FROM TOKYO

The Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte concluded day two of the Future of Asia conference held by Nikkei in Tokyo with a bang.

Scheduled to speak on May 31 at 5.15pm, which was to be followed by a question-and-answer session with an audience comprising of leaders and captains of industry from around the world, the leader of Filipinos went off-script twice to speak off the cuff.

He eventually did not finish reading from his prepared speech -- but not before giving the audience his assurance he will take the fight to corruption for as long as he is in power.

A change of tone

As the last speaker at the two-day event, his antics brought joviality to the proceedings that often times was formal and stern, and featured po-faced leaders giving politically-safe prepared speeches.

It brought a clear change of tone and allowed the event to end on a high, besides being an affirmative pat on the back to whoever it was who planned the line-up of speakers, which kicked off with Malaysia prime minister Mahathir Mohamad on the first day.

Duterte first-time speaking

Duterte was supposed to speak at this same event two years ago.

However, his trip to Tokyo then had to be cancelled as a result of an insurgency in the Philippines.

On May 23, 2017, the Philippine government forces clashed with armed fighters from two ISIL-affiliated groups -- Abu Sayyaf and the Maute.

The siege was triggered when the military tried to arrest top ISIL leader Isnilon Hapilon.

What was Duturte scheduled to speak about?

Duterte started his address formally.

"Asia is on the cusp of a historic transformation," he said early on as he read slowly from his prepared speech.

"Chaos will be the inevitable stage of the transformation for a new global order," he also said at another point as he stuck to his script.

However, before ad libbing, his prepared speech was peppered with irony.

At one point, Duturte the strongman who likes to flex his authoritarian tendencies, read from his notes addressing one of the global challenges these days, without batting an eye: "Nationalist and nativist tendencies have reared its head in some parts of the world."

Talk of climate change set Duterte off

Duterte's deviation was triggered when he was reading the segment concerning the adverse consequences of climate change and how the ill effects make victims of the ones least responsible.

He said: "Developing countries that have contributed least to global warming, like my country, the Philippines, suffer the worst consequences."

"There has to be an accountability. Let me just divert, this is a prepared speech."

Railed against all talk, no action

Duterte then railed against the lack of concrete action when it came to tackling climate change.

As an example, he asked rhetorically what has been done to avert the ill effects of climate change.

"Let's stop kidding each other. Or else we are wasting time and money," he said.

"These (climate) conferences which we attend have not improved a bit since the time it started."

"What has been done from the first meeting to the last? None."

Duterte said that mitigating climate change is not going to happen without a body overseeing the rules.

He said: "Because there is no body and no entity to enforce the laws of climate (change mitigation)."

Duterte on more pressing problems

Duterte then said climate change is not the most pressing issue in global affairs: "There are so many countries with bombs -- hydrogen, atomic and all, if one country just sends one in the air, that would be the end of the world."

"Climate change means nothing to us."

In his almost stream of consciousness speech, Duterte then mentioned China and the United States Central Intelligence Agency: "My country is very small. It has progressed little over the years. I don't know why. But I don't want to fight with anybody, not only with China."

He then looked into the audience and said: "How many CIA (officers) are here today?"

No one raised their hands.

"Such pretensions," he said.

Talked tough about drugs

Despite trying to return to his speech, Duterte broke off from it again subsequently.

He then proceeded to talk about his war on drugs in the Philippines, a fight that he is known for.

He said he carried out his pledge to eradicate drugs and drug use from his country after he got elected.

This was, he said, the result of being told some 15 or 16 years ago that the Philippines would become a "narcos state" if nothing was done to arrest the problem.

Duturte claimed that some seven million of his countryman are slaves to a drug called "shabu", also known as methamphetamine.

He said his sloganeering for his presidency was: "Do not destroy my country, or I will kill you."

Talk even tough on corruption too

But his tough talk on fighting the drug problem appeared to have been setting the stage for talking tough on the fight on corruption too.

After he was informed mid-way through his spiel that time was running out, Duterte said he would call everyone in the audience personally to finish up on his speech: "I will just call everyone of you."

"I said enough. I have five minutes. Who is the next crowd with me?"

"I have three more pages to read. Well, I'll just end. Just give me your cell phone, I will just continue our talk tonight. Really."

Final sales pitch for investors

This was followed by his final sales pitch to the audience gathered in front of him: "Who wants investments? My country needs it."

He also gave his personal assurance: "In my term, it is safe."

This was before he half-jokingly said: "Who wants investments? Who wants it? Investors means Japanese, Chinese. The first thing is, is your money safe? Doesn't matter. It is safe. Is there no corruption? There is no corruption. I have killed all of them already."

As this drew much laughter from the crowd, Duterte elicited heartier guffaws when he said: "Some. Not all of them."

His final remarks were also a direct sales pitch by the most powerful person in his country.

Duterte said: "If you are an investor, you have a local agent, an errand boy -- if you have a problem, or hindrance, if there is someone asking money from you, even one peso, you have access to my office."

"You have 24-hour access to my office."

"You can take your money out anytime, we won't stop you."

"Is it safe enough for you? It is safe."

As the Japanese prime minister was scheduled to meet with Duterte at the conclusion of his speech at 6pm and abiding by the strictness of the Japanese scheduling, Duterte ended promptly.

He said: "This concludes speech. Ladies and gentlemen, I love, will love... Japan. Sorry, it's the prime minister (waiting). Arigatou."

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Top photo: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images