Duterte says bid depends on poll results

DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte (left) talks on federalism and countryside development before the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the City of San Fernando. TONETTE OREJAS/INQUIRER CENTRAL LUZON

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he is concluding his tour of the country next week in Catanduanes province in the Bicol region, and is certain he would not declare his bid for the presidency if his approval rating in the next survey would be below 82 percent.

Duterte said the main agenda in his sorties was to talk about federalism as the answer to the conflict and poverty in Mindanao, not the proposed Basic Bangsamoro Law (BBL).

“[I’m going around] to educate people about the situation in Mindanao and the importance of knowing federalism because it might be the only answer. If BBL fails, then we are doomed; they said we might go to war. Even the President echoed it by saying we might as well count body bags,” he said.

He has visited and talked about federalism in the provinces of Zamboanga, Cagayan, Cotabato, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Iloilo, Pampanga, Bulacan, Cavite and Pangasinan, and the cities of Dapitan, Marawi, Bacolod and Baguio.

The Catanduanes forum is organized by lawyers there, said Duterte, 70, a lawyer and a former prosecutor.

“It’s finished, I will rest,” he replied when asked in an interview why he was ending his tour. “Often, people think I’m running for President,” he added.

Speaking for almost two hours at the 49th general membership meeting of the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Monday, Duterte sent mixed signals about his political plan.

“I’m too old for that (running for President). I want to enjoy by traveling around the world,” he said.

He said his family was against plans for him to run for President.

But Duterte drew applause when he said that should he become President, he would not allow himself to be useless.

As President, he said, he would move for sweeping reforms like declaring a revolutionary government, whose first actions would be to close Congress; increase the salaries of soldiers, policemen and teachers; put law back in the government; and sign a decree exempting P25,000 earners from paying income tax.

“I will never, never, never sit [in Malacañang for an uneventful year],” Duterte said.

When businessman Marni Castro pressed him for a definitive answer, Duterte said: “There will be chaos in the family… I’m consistent, I will not run.”

He said potential campaign donors had called him to separate meetings and asked him about his plan in 2016.

He told each one: “I may have a change of heart. I really don’t know. I’m consistent, I will not run.”

God, he said, “would be the first to cry if I run for President.”

In an interview, Duterte reiterated a condition that would push him to run: “I will run if I garner 82 percent in the surveys.”

Told that attaining the figure must be improbable if there are several popular candidates in the field, Duterte said, “Then my candidacy is not probable.” Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon