Duterte says ‘no’ to staying in power

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – President Duterte said he had no intention of staying in power, in reaction to what his critics claimed as he pushed for changes in the Constitution to pave for the shift to the federal form of government.

“I’m not the vainglory type; wala akong hinihingi sa inyong (I am not asking for) additional power from you,” Duterte said.

“I’ve lived with power all my life. I grew up with my father as governor of (the undivided Davao province). I’ve never used my power (to exploit others). I’m not greedy for power. I was in power for 23 years, look at my city now, go to my city,” Duterte added, referring to Davao City, which he claimed to have cleaned of drugs and criminality, unlike other areas, where he said, women and children were being raped and became victims of crimes.

He cited the Social Weather Station survey made on March 23 to 27 this year, which showed 6.6 percent of Filipino families were reported to have been victims of crime, physical violence in the first six months of the year.

He said 145 families, or lower than the 180 recorded in December last year, were hurt by physical violence. According to the survey, the majority of victims of street robbery were women, at 59 percent, and that the number of the women victims were 19 points higher than in December last year.