Spine injury makes me unfit for ’16—Duterte

DAVAO CITY—Mayor Rodrigo Duterte admitted here that one of the reasons he is not interested in running for President in 2016 was a spinal injury he suffered in a past accident that continues to give him backaches and limits his mobility.

Duterte, upon arrival here from a trip to Cebu City, ordered all streamers pushing him to run for President, which greeted him at the airport, taken down.

“Either they really admire me so much or they really want me out of Davao City,” said Duterte, who appeared sick and in pain on Saturday.

Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. FILE PHOTO

He reiterated his lack of interest in higher office but acknowledged that his push for federalism might have been mistaken as a desire by him to run for President.

The mayor, who had taken painkillers before facing the media, said he had been under medication for a backache he acquired from an accident, which injured his spinal cord years ago, and was unfit to run for President.

“I want to retire. I’m in pain almost 24 hours a day,” he said, admitting that he could not bear traveling by land for long hours.

He said he was campaigning for federalism because he wanted to explain to people in the Visayas and Luzon that the failure to settle the Moro conflict in Mindanao might eventually tear the country apart.

He said one key feature of federalism was that it allows a state to retain much of the revenue it earns.

“We are collecting this much revenue but when budgeting comes, we are usually left behind,” Duterte said.

“It’s time to cut ties, cut it,” the mayor said, using a pair of scissors to show what he means.

If Duterte makes good his statement to retire, he said he preferred to retire in Danao City, Cebu province.

Duterte, who was a guest during the graduation rites of a motorcycle-riding course sponsored by the Highway Patrol Group in Cebu City, said he was already tired and leaving politics to his daughter, Sara, former mayor of Davao City.

“I do not covet it, I do not want it, I do not need it. I’m tired. Actually first, I am not interested. Second, I do not have the money. Third, because I do not have the money. Fourth, I am not interested,” Duterte said of persistent questions about whether he was running for President.

He said proponents of federalism should seize the chance to push for change in the form of government because leaders of the government were busy “cutting each other’s throats,” apparently referring to the ongoing allegations of corruption between the camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay and the ruling Liberal Party. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao and Carine Asutilla, Inquirer Visayas