DAVAO CITY — “I’d have this guy any day,” returning senator Juan Miguel Zubiri said on Friday in response to criticisms against president-elect Rodrigo Duterte.
“For the record: People should understand that this president is really like that,” Zubiri told INQUIRER.net after casually meeting Duterte’s executive assistant Bong Go and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, who were playing basketball at a gym in the city.
“As a mayor siga sya. That’s how he is,” he said.
“I’d rather have a foul-mouthed mayor as president [who’s] effective in governance than a sweet-talking, eloquent politician who is nothing but corrupt and incompetent,” Zubiri said.
Duterte has been under fire for his comments against media and his frequent use of foul words.
During his last press briefing, he ended up cursing media, the Catholic Church and even the United Nations.
“I’m really a rude person. I’m enjoying my last time as a rude person,” he admitted.
However, Duterte said he will undergo “metamorphosis” after he is inaugurated as president on June 30. he said he will be more presidential.
READ: Duterte promises ‘metamorphosis’ after inauguration
“I’m telling you how I would behave. That’s going to be a metamorphosis in the mind, steadily from a caterpillar it blossoms into a butterfly, “ he said.
Zubiri said he hopes to meet Duterte on Friday night to thank him. He said he partly owes his win to the tough-talking mayor who delivered votes in Mindanao.
“It’s never been this good for Mindanao,” he said.
Zubiri said he will also verify with Duterte who he wants as senate president — Cayetano, his runningmate, or Senator Koko Pimentel, president of PDP-Laban.