Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte INQUIRER MINDANAO FILE PHOTO
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – “Take my name out of the list, I don’t need the award,” Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said of his nomination to “World mayor,” a biennial award given by The City Mayors Foundation to uplift the profile of mayors and to honor those who have served their communities well.
He said he would not accept an award that would recognize him for just doing his job for the people.
“I take my job seriously because I am the mayor, but if you say, you’re giving me an award, I won’t accept it, ayaw ko iapilapil,ngil-ad tan-awon (don’t include me, it doesn’t look good),” Duterte said, even as he jokingly compared himself with Marlon Brando, who once turned down an Oscar’s, saying, “I did the acting for my own.”
“Just like Marlon Brando, I did it because it was my job,” Duterte said, “I did it not for my own glory, but because that was what the people expected me to do.”
The mayor said he had declined other awards for the city, including the anti-smoking award in Singapore in 2010 and another award given by the American Cancer Society.
“As a matter of principle, I don’t accept awards,” he said.
The City Mayors Foundation has been giving the award since 2004 to mayors who have made outstanding contribution to their communities. Dr. Kyoichiro Adachi, whose wife Nelma Nacion-Adachi is board of trustee and corporate secretary of the Davao-based Philippine Nikkei Jin Kai Inc., who nominated Duterte.
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