So Davao City Mayor Baste Duterte received a letter from the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) advising him that some city officials were using “vulgar” language in their criticism of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.?
Feeling one of those alluded to Mayor Baste was immediate in his reaction. He said he could not just keep silent with what he thinks is happening in the administration. He said he cannot speak something different from what is actually happening. He has to speak out the truth of what he sees and feel.
Good point and we fully subscribe to the position taken by the young Duterte. The question is, are his sights not blinded by emotions after what transpired between his father former President Rodrigo R. Duterte and those who are in the top hierarchy of the current administration? If we have to relate what is happening between the warring political factions of the Dutertes and the Marcoses, to yesterday’s church sermon, feeling bad or angry at one’s enemy is not a sin; but doing something bad as consequence of the emotion is.
Can the mayor be guilty of his not conforming with the President’s way of governance? He could be, and he could be not.
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Former President Rodrigo Duterte is the lone Datu Bago awardee for this year.
Indeed the guy is very, very deserving. Imagine the man rose from a mere Officer-in-Charge Vice Mayor then mayor for consecutive three terms, became a congressman, back to Mayor, then Vice Mayor, then mayor again and later occupied the highest position in the land. In all these elective positions he never lost. That clearly speaks volume of the man.
Surprisingly, it took him to become President and later as ex-president to finally get the most prestigious award that the city has.
Isn’t it rather late? Why was he not chosen in 2023. Of course if selection rules prohibit a sitting elected public official from being nominated to the award, it is another story.
FPRRD therefore deserves every Davaoeno’s congratulations. He put Davao City not just in the map of national consciousness but in the international scene as well. And he even continues to do the same until now that he is already out of Malacanang.
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The most ludicrous allegation ever made by an alleged witness in a hearing conducted by the Senate recently were that of a man who claimed he had worked with beleaguered Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy and saw him giving bags of firearms to former President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
How come? Did he believe that the Reverend Pastor is that influential over the Philippine National Police that he can just get approval from the authority to procure as many firearms as he wants? Besides, no one legitimate firearms dealer will just sell the ammunition to anyone who will wangle wads of money without presenting clearance to purchase from police authorities.
Besides, it would also be an underestimation of the sect leader if he buys gun from unlicensed manufacturers and a great insult to the alleged recipient of the guns if these are the so-called “paltiks.”
And granting, for the sake of argument, that indeed the Pastor gave Duterte such huge number of guns, is the witness saying that all those given were handguns like pistols and revolvers that the three hundred or more firearms were accommodated in bags only?
What a big joke. Or was the witness wanting in instruction, or the drama in that Senate probe was badly lacking in elements that would have made it credible?
Indeed it is barely fifteen months left before the 2025 elections. Those wanting to get reelected in the Senate and in the House of Representatives are devising schemes to jumpstart their campaign without violating any election rule against early campaigning.
