Manila: The face of popular and controversial Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is being sold as masks for Halloween’s this year.
“Sales are expected to soar before end of October,” said John Tan, an industrial engineer who has been making masks of popular people for the observation of Halloween since 2011.
“There was no other choice but President Duterte this year,” said Tan, referring to the president’s courage to fight illegal drug trade which has been criticised for the death of 3,000 suspected drug users and pushers since July.
Duterte has been widely talked about because of his curses even in formal and international functions, including courageous statements against the United States, a world power and long-time military ally of the Philippines, in effort to warm frosty Philippine-China ties because of overlapping claims in the South China Sea. The Philippines succeeded last July when the Hague-based Permanent Arbitration Court ruled in Philippines’ favour versus complaint against Beijing’s claim of the entire South China Sea.
Tan said he did not mean to scare people with a Duterte mask, because the basis of his choice was “never political, just purely economic, and on the personality’s popularity”.
Tan has decided an initial test number of 500 Duterte masks, sold online at P700 (Dh58.40) each.
Sales experts predicted that orders for the expensive Duterte mask could reach ceiling high, overwhelm Tan, and make him work double time to meet unexpected demand.
Tan said a deluge of orders is “always welcomed for profit,” adding he had done his homework ahead of selling — by sculpting early in clay the president’s face, warts and all, based on still pictures and video footage.
“My masks are produced by an instant mask-making machine called Vaquform,” explained Tan, adding he has a custom-built desktop version of the same machine that he has been using to teach industrial techniques to students at the premier University of the Philippines in suburban Diliman.
Tan said he and his sales team did not make a mistake when their choice was a Tyrion Lannister mask ahead of Halloween in 2015.
Lannister is a fictional dwarf in a series of fantasy novels titled “A Song of Ice and Fire” by American author George Martin in 1981. Lannister is also a wealthy dwarf in the House Lannister in Martin’s “Game of Throne” (1996). Tan did not say how many Lannister masks were sold last year.
One popular mask made by Tan belonged to eight-weight boxing champion Manny Pacquiao who was elected senator last May. “1,500 Pacquiao masks were sold here and abroad,” revealed Tan, adding his “joy to make” mask production is limited before every Halloween.
