Calls for Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte to run for president are mounting every day.
Yesterday, I heard former North Cotabato Gov. Manny Piñol being interviewed over the radio. He urged Duterte to run because at the moment, there was no ideal candidate for the post.
Piñol, a former journalist, said that Vice President Jojo Binay and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, both presidential wannabes, don’t make the grade.
Binay has been hounded by charges of corruption while Roxas cannot seem to connect with the masses. My words, not Piñol’s.
If Duterte runs, he will have the backing of the Visayan-speaking masses in Visayas and Mindanao, where the majority of the people speak Cebuano, his dialect.
The other Visayans—Waray, Ilonggo and Kinaray-a—will also go for Duterte because he’s a fellow Visayan.
But the biggest reason people in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will vote for Duterte should he decide to run is that he is not corrupt.
He has not been charged with any malfeasance concerning money.
The only issue against him is the extrajudicial execution of notorious criminals in Davao City that he allegedly ordered but which many people approve of.
* * *
Filipinos are looking for a benevolent leader with an iron hand.
They’re tired of either having intelligent but corrupt leaders or honest but weak leaders.
In Davao City, Duterte orders his constituents not to set off firecrackers on New Year’s Eve—a tradition among Filipinos—and they follow him because they know it’s for their own welfare and will help the peace and order situation.
Nobody’s fingers get blown off in the city during the New Year’s Eve revelry.
Duterte forbids drinking until the wee hours of the morning in nightclubs and no one violates this as his constituents know it will be good for peace and order as well as their health.
There are fewer recorded fights among drunks that lead to stabbings or shootings.
Some mornings, residents wake up to find bodies of notorious criminals lying on the streets, apparently victims of vigilante killings, but they don’t complain because the city is being rid of the scum of society.
One can walk the streets of Davao City without fear of being mugged.
* * *
Duterte doesn’t want to run for president because it entails a lot of money which he doesn’t have because he’s not corrupt.
I talked to a business tycoon several days ago and he said he and his fellow captains of industry would provide the funds for Duterte.
According to him, the country needs a leader like Duterte who walks the talk.
Another billionaire, who owns a chain of stores nationwide, told me nobody at Davao City Hall gave him a hard time when his company applied for a business permit. He, too, said he would provide financial support for Duterte’s campaign.
So Duterte’s lack of money is no longer an issue should he decide to run.
* * *
One of the recipients of the 2nd Gintong Palad Public Service Award sponsored by the Movie Writers Welfare Foundation and the Rotary Club of Intramuros was James Dy, PhD.
Nobody is more deserving of the award than Dr. Dy, chair and president of the Chinese General Hospital (CGH).
He was cited for hospital management and humanitarian service.
I’ve referred many poor patients to Dy and he sponsored their hospital and medicinal expenses at the CGH, which has one of the country’s most modern facilities.
The CGH under Dy treats soldiers and policemen, who are wounded in the line of duty, free of charge—the only hospital to do so.