Duterte ‘proclaimed’ in Davao City
DAVAO CITY, Philippines—With President-elect Rodrigo Duterte gone to do his duties as mayor on the day of his proclamation, his supporters on Monday trooped to his residence here to reenact what would have been his proclamation.
Ken Basic, 33, brought a Philippine flag to administer the proclamation of a Duterte “selfie” stand in front of the President-elect’s residence at Doña Luisa Village, Ecoland here.
“We, the new sovereign people, the new Emilio Aguinaldo, will proclaim Mr. Rodrigo Roa Duterte, by the voice of the people, to be our 16th President, of the Republic of the Philippines. God bless you, Mr. President. Congratulations,” Basic said clapping his hands, while his friend held up the flag.
In an interview after the staged proclamation, Basic said he wanted to reenact the proclamation to give his President-elect a chance to be duly proclaimed for leading the May 9 national elections.
“Napagkatuwaan naming magbabarkada na gumawa ng flag, pumunta rito at kami na lang mag-proclaim sa kanya. People’s voice naman kaya siya naging presidente, kaya kami na nag-proclaim sa kanya,” said Basic.
(My friends and I decided to make a flag, go here and administer his staged proclamation. It’s the people voice which elected him as president that’s why we decided to administer his staged proclamation.)
“We understand busy siya (he’s busy) doing things for the country,” he added.
He was among the scores of supporters who went to Duterte’s residence in Davao City where the incoming president lives with his common-law wife Honeylet Avanceña.
In an interview outside her house here, Avanceña said Duterte skipped his scheduled proclamation to do his duties as Davao City mayor.
READ: It’s final: No Duterte on proclamation day
Christopher “Bong” Go, Duterte’s chief aide, said Duterte decided to skip his scheduled proclamation at the House of Representatives to do his duties as mayor.
“He is doing his chores as mayor of Davao. Madami pa (There are many) documents for signature,” Go said.
With Duterte gone, Congress in a joint session instead proclaimed Camarines Sur Rep. Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo of the Liberal Party as vice president-elect.
READ: Duterte, Robredo proclaimed new President, VP; Rody a no-show
According to the Congress’ canvassing which only took three days, Duterte sealed the presidency with 16,601,997 votes in the official count, or over six million ahead of second placer the Liberal Party candidate Manuel “Mar” Roxas II.
Meanwhile, Robredo won with 14,418,817 votes or just 263,473 votes apart from her closest rival Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. who got 14,155,344. Marcos’ camp is mulling an electoral protest, alleging massive cheating. RAM
