THE CROONER President Duterte becomes an audience participant during an entertainment number at Belenisimo’s awards night in Tarlac City, singing the Filipino classic, “Ikaw.” –MALACAÑANG PHOTO
TARLAC CITY—It was supposed to be a night of entertainment on Sunday for President Duterte to cap his first presidential visit to this city, hometown of his predecessor, former President Benigno Aquino III.
But Mr. Duterte became part of the entertainment, to the delight of the huge crowd that gathered on Robinsons’ athletic field at Hacienda Luisita shopping complex in Barangay San Miguel here.
He was the guest of honor at the awards night of this year’s Belenisimo, the city’s annual rendering of the Nativity scene. The President earlier made a brief visit to the military’s Northern Luzon Command just across from the complex.
Mr. Duterte again showed what endeared him to ordinary Filipinos as he sang and delivered jokes like a stand-up comedian while discussing his controversial war on drugs.
Before delivering a speech, he gamely joined the all-male group New Minstrels Divos in belting out the classic Filipino song “Ikaw,” while he was seated.
Mr. Duterte, in jeans and black polo shirt printed with the word “DU30,” later told the crowd how singing the composition of the late George Canseco had helped him win the hearts of three women.
Relationships
“Don’t be complacent with the song ‘Ikaw.’ I had relationships with three women because of that song,” said the President, drawing laughter.
“One is already old, but not really that old. The other one is separated from her husband. But that’s OK,” he said.
Mr. Duterte, whose favorite hangout in Davao City is a jazz bar called “After Dark,” also used to sing the song in his campaign sorties and during his visits to Filipino communities abroad.
Dr. Isabel Cojuangco Suntay, cochair of the Tarlac Heritage Foundation, said the New Minstrels Divos—composed of Chad Borja, Ding Mercado and Eugene Villaluz—were invited to the festival because the organizers knew the President’s penchant for singing.
Borja, a Davao City native who rose to prominence for his hit song “Ikaw Lang” in the 1990s, said he was happy that the “former father of Davao is now the father of the whole Philippines.”
“But I still call him mayor because he’s like a father to me. President Rodrigo Duterte, thank you so much,” Borja said.
Remembering ma
Known for his tough guy image, Mr. Duterte was nearly in tears when the group serenaded him with another of his favorite songs, Josh Groban’s “You Raise Me Up,” which, he said, reminded him of his late mother, Soledad.
The President, who sat beside Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, looked pensive throughout the song.
“When my mother died, I really found solace in that song … . I sing that song in karaoke bars. But I could not finish it because I really turn emotional,” he later told the crowd.
Recalling his life as a teenager, he said his mother always supported him when his father scolded him for his failure to finish high school on time.
“You know when my father was alive, he used to tell me, ‘Do, you could only reach the port.’ It means I cannot even finish high school. He died with that impression of me. I finished high school in seven years,” Mr. Duterte said.
“One time, my mother asked me, ‘Rodrigo, when will you finish high school? Your grade is always 75.’ I told her, ‘Mother, it’s OK as long as I could walk up the stage,’” he said.
“When my mother died, she was 96, it really hit me. My mother, she stood for me.”
Trophies, checks
The President handed out trophies and checks to this year’s Belenisimo winners, assisted by Aquino’s second cousin, Suntay, of the Tarlac Heritage Foundation.
In his speech, Mr. Duterte shared jokes and funny anecdotes as he talked about his effort to achieve peace in Mindanao, his campaign against illegal drugs and the criticisms he had been receiving on extrajudicial killings.
Mr. Duterte invited Tarlac residents, especially students, to visit Malacañang. “Enjoy Malacañang. That’s not mine. It’s not a palace,” he said.
Then the joked that he did not sleep there because the place was haunted. “There are ghosts there, even at daytime. There is a white lady who appears during the day,” he said.
He sleeps in a small hotel instead, he said.
The Presidential Security Group has been so concerned about his safety that he could not even open the windows of his car to wave to the children who would greet him upon his arrival in Camp Aquino.
“Death? Who’s afraid to die? We will all die. If I die, [Vice President] Leni [Robredo] is just there,” he said. —WITH A REPORT FROM MARLON RAMOS IN MANILA