Cayetano says he sees his father in Duterte

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. GERMELINA LACORTE/INQUIRER MINDANAO FILE PHOTO

IT WAS NO small stretch for vice presidential candidate and Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano to see a bit of his father, the late Sen. Renato Cayetano, in his running mate, presidential aspirant Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

“Nakikita ko ang aking ama kay Mayor Duterte (I see my father in Mayor Duterte),” Cayetano said during the “Harapan ng Bise” vice presidential debate hosted by ABS-CBN last Sunday.

According to Cayetano, his father taught him to fight for the welfare of Filipinos.

“In 1986, he announced his decision to oppose (then President Ferdinand) Marcos,” Cayetano said of the late senator.

“With that decision, he risked going to jail or getting killed. I looked at my sister and my mother, and we all told him that we would join him in his fight,” he said in Filipino.

Cayetano said that, like his father, Duterte had already accomplished much in his life, yet the Davao mayor still chose to serve the people instead of resting on his laurels.

“Duterte need not run this election. He had already done much to improve Davao,” Cayetano said. “But I know that, in his heart, he wouldn’t want to leave this life without doing his very best to help the country.”

He went on to urge the people to support Duterte in his campaign, while he stressed the need for a vice president who would help the mayor fulfill his goal of restoring order in people’s lives and ending the cycle of violence in the country brought on by crime, illegal drugs and corruption.