Duterte: I’d rather lose polls than lose my identity
TAGAYTAY CITY – Political make-over? No thanks.
Davao City mayor and presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday said he could not heed the advice given by some of his friends, who are priests, that he change his public image if only to lure votes, as he would not want to lose his identity.
Duterte, who is known for talking tough and even swearing in public, said his friends had asked him to “reconfigure” his image if he were serious about winning the presidency.
But Duterte, who once drew negative reactions for cursing at Pope Francis, said : “If I lose the (presidential) election, I will still survive. But if I lose my identity in this universe, in this planet, I am nothing,” he said.”I’d rather lose the election than change.”
Duterte, with running mate and Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, were here Sunday night for a concert dubbed as “Tunog ng Pagbabago” (Sound of Change).
Talking to a crowd that packed the city’s convention center, Duterte enumerated his programs should he win the presidency.
“I am offering you a few things — to end (illegal) drugs, criminality, (and) corruption,” he said.
He also talked about “fixing the government” and his programs on agriculture.
Duterte said 70 percent of Filipinos are still poor, a reason why “we have to fix the country,” he said.
Also present in the event were senatorial candidates Susan “Toots” Ople, Dante Liban, Sandra Cam, Dionisio Santiago and former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chair Francis Tolentino.
In an ambush interview, Cayetano said Tolentino was among those who helped organize the event in this city in Cavite province.
He said Tolentino is being “officially endorsed” by Duterte and has been with their team “since December.”
Tolentino, a former mayor of Tagaytay, used to be allied with President Aquino’s Liberal Party until he announced that he will not join the administration’s senatorial ticket after his name was linked to a lewd public performance involving an all-girls dance group in Laguna province last year.
