He could have ignored the threats and insults and opted to be an officer and a gentleman as the country’s top cop, but Gen. Nicolas Torre III chose to fight to teach the young generation of Filipinos a lesson about standing up to what he calls bullies.

“I’ve been bullied so many times by that guy,” said Torre, referring to acting Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte.

In a speech during a flag-raising ceremony and later during a press briefing, Torre said the first instance was when Baste threatened to slap him when he was the regional director of the Police Regional Office 11.  

He said it all started when he insisted on implementing a three-minute police response in Davao City, which he said, was rejected by Duterte, who was then the mayor.

And that threat of harm, according to Torre, happened even before the arrest of Kingdom of Jesus Christ leader Apollo Quiboloy in September last year.

It was recalled that Torre sacked the police commanders of Davao City for allegedly misreporting crime to make it appear that the area is safe.

Torre said the bullying went on since then and even became frequent after the arrest of Quiboloy and the transport of former president Rodrigo Duterte to the Hague in Netherlands.

But enough is enough, and on the latest podcast of Baste where he mentioned about engaging Torre in a fistfight, the Chief PNP accepted the challenge.

“As your Chief PNP, I will not allow any of us to be bullied just like that by anybody regardless of the status, especially the name-calling,” said Torre, referring to Baste’s statement calling him a monkey. 

“I will not allow anybody to insult us, we will not tolerate that and it is our obligation to defend ourselves, to defend ourselves as Filipinos. We are policemen and we swore on that oath that we will not back down from anybody who would trample on our dignity,” he added.

Torre earlier said that one of the reasons he accepted the fistfight challenge is to take it as an opportunity to raise funds for the typhoon victims.

The charity boxing match, although there was no slugfest that happened between the two, generated over P20 million in donations and ticket sales.

But for Torre, there is also an underlying message that he wants to convey to the Filipino people, particularly the younger ones.

“Let us show that we stand up to the bully,” said Torre.

And with Baste not showing up during the supposed showdown, Torre said that he would close the chapter of him paying attention to the former.

“The bully ran away. Let us close that chapter,” he stressed.

Baste earlier issued another statement that he would fight Torre between Tuesday to Friday this week.

But Torre, it was called, said he is no longer interested.

“Everybody saw the big effort that we put into this (charity boxing). I don’t think he is worth responding to at this point in time. Let’s just leave him in his world,” said Torre during the post-event interview.

“I don’t think there is still logic in anything he would say anymore. Ang credibility kase parang maloko mo ako one time, shame on you, maloko mo ako dalawang beses, shame on me. (The credibility is like fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.”

“I am not like his supporters whom he could foll all the time,” he emphasized.