‘In Davao, there’s another dictator in the offing,’ says Duterte

Davao City Mayor Inday Sarah Duterte. (file photo by EDWIN BACASMAS / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

There’s another dictator in the offing. President Rodrigo Duterte said she resides in Davao City.

“In Davao, there’s another dictator offing. Not me. She has a Duterte surname,” Duterte said during a speech before business leaders and government officials in Malacañang on Tuesday.

The chief executive’s daughter, Sara Duterte, is the mayor of Davao City.

“If you go to Davao at 12 midnight, everything closes,” the President said. “Even if you’re drinking, the waiters will get it from your hand and say ‘It’s 12 o’clock and you have to go home.”

“She does not want it,” the President said. “You cannot smoke. You cannot drink beyond 12 o’clock [midnight]. If you stand there in the corner and just talk there, you’ll be asked by the police to continue your conversation in jail.”

The President clarified, however, that loiterers in Davao under her daughter’s leadership, particularly minors, would not be arrested, but they would just be taken in for questioning.

“It’s the duty of the nation, the republic to take care of its young. We do not deprive them of the freedom to move. That’s a constitutional guarantee,” the President said.

“But under the great powers of state, the police power, you can take in minors who are there outside. There’s a curfew in Davao for minors: It’s 10 o’clock. You are taken into custody. You are not arrested.”

Mayor Duterte recently launched her regional political party Hugpong ng Pagbabago (Alliance of Change). Three national political parties and six local parties have already allied with her party.

The national parties are the National Unity Party, Nationalist People’s Coalition, Nacionalista Party. /atm