MAYOR Sebastian Duterte on Friday night urged his father’s supporters to continue ramping up the pressure until former President Rodrigo Duterte returns home and continues his legacy.
Duterte told the crowd to fight against what he believes as oppression from the Marcos administration.
The mayor delivered his message during the 80th birthday celebration of former President Rody Duterte, dubbed “Rody at 80: Global Filipino Solidarity,” held at the junction of Roxas Avenue and C.M. Recto Avenue in Davao City.
Addressing the crowd, said to be more than 300,000 according to the Public Safety and Security Office, Duterte said, “We are here, all you handsome and beautiful people of Davao. This is a significant matter for us. It is not easy for your father to be imprisoned. But it is his chosen path. Looking at me, you can see that he has not truly left me. He remains in our hearts, right or wrong?”
The crowd responded, ‘Right!’
“You have witnessed his long tenure as mayor. To keep his legacy alive, we must follow all his teachings,” he continued.
“We, the people of Davao, are disciplined, kind, and we will fight for what is right and just. We, the people of Davao, have shown that we can build a place where our dreams and well-being are realized, a good future for all of us. It is a long journey from where we came from, and look where we are now,” he said.
“We will not stop, and we will continue to come forward. Like I said, this is very difficult, and I know many of you are grieving, especially those who were touched by my father, held his hand, or were embraced by him. I understand the pain you feel in your hearts because I know how much you love this man, and I know you felt his love. But if we give up now, we cannot uphold his legacy and the lessons he imparted to our city. So, we must resist and persevere. We must remain strong. We will experience pain, but Davao City will always stand together, until the very end,” he added.
The mayor likened the current situation faced by the Duterte family to a chess game.
“Let me reiterate, don’t forget this: it’s like this. Do you know how people play chess? They were effectively checkmated by the GAA and the Bicam. That’s why, shouldn’t they have responded in April? They moved their response until after the elections, when they knew they would lose. Now, facing defeat, they’ve resorted to desperate measures, like kidnapping. They’ve flipped the chessboard so that no one wins. That’s what has happened,” he said.
In January this year, Davao City Third District Rep. Isidro Ungab, former chair of the appropriations committee of the House under the Duterte administration, exposed issues in the Bicameral Conference Committee Report.
