Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief General Nicolas Torre III's acceptance of Acting Davao City Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte's fistfight challenge is his way of telling the latter to "Walk your talk."

Thus, said Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin, who in a virtual press conference Thursday, July 24 also praised Torre for his humor and smarts in handling the situation.

Garin admitted that she was surprised at first to learn Torre's response to Mayor Duterte's dare, but ultimately described it as a masterstroke.

"If you look at the context of it, if you read between the lines, ang dinidirekta niya, sinasabi niyang hindi niya papayagan ang mga bagay-bagay. Kumbaga, its bottom line he's saying, 'I'm serious in the business that I'm doing' na yung kanyang trabaho," she said.

(What he's saying directly is he's not letting things slide. In the other words, the bottomline is that he's saying, 'I'm serious in the business that I'm doing' and that is my job.)

"At yung iba sabi nila medyo natawa kasi bakit gagawing charity fight, but then it aroused the interest of the general public na, 'Oh ano, bakit ba puro tayo salita?' Parang the message doon is 'Walk your talk.' Yun ang pagnanaw ko," added the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) stalwart.

(As to the charity fight aspect that others laughed at, but then it aroused the interest of the general public by saying, 'Oh, why are we all talk?' Perhaps the message there is, 'Walk your talk.' That's my view.)

Torre proposed that the charity boxing match--which would benefit victims of the recent typhoons--be held on Sunday, July 27 at Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

For historical context, the late great boxing heavyweights Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier held their third and final fight at the same venue in October 1975, in a now legendary event dubbed "Thrilla in Manila".

Garin further praised Torre for his handling the hostility toward him.

"But actually, meron din siyang humor. At mas nakikilalang na ito pala si PNP chief, si General Torre, ay talaga may itinatagong humor at talino. And parang tinapos niya o pinatay niya yung usapan at yung issue na wala naman talagang katuturan dun sa kanyang trabaho," she said.

(But actually, he has a sense of humor too. And it’s becoming more evident that the PNP chief, General Torre, really has humor and intelligence beneath the surface. It’s like he wrapped up or shut down the conversation and the issue, which really had no relevance to his work.)

Torre led local authorities in the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte last March 11. The latter is now being held and tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague in the Netherlands for crimes against humanity.

The elder Duterte was elected Davao mayor during the May mid-term polls.