Duterte spreads cheer to village officials in Davao City

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. KIWI BULACLAC/Presidential Photo

DAVAO CITY—President Duterte gave out cash on Tuesday night to village officials here in this season of gift giving, but the money did not come from his own pocket. Neither did it come from government coffers.

The money turned out to be a campaign contribution he did not declare to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“I returned the money [to a tycoon], but he refused to take it back,” the President said, adding that the donor told him to use it any way he wanted.

Since the money was entrusted to him by the tycoon and he was given a free hand to spend it, he decided to give it to the people this Christmas, Mr. Duterte said.

The village officials, who gathered at the Almendras Gym, were ecstatic when he announced he would give them “probably” P50,000 in additional bonus. When he later said “maybe P100,000,” they were overjoyed.

But when the Presidential Management Staff chief, Christopher Go, approached him and whispered something, the President announced that barangay captains would just get P10,000 and village councilors, P3,000.

Even as their bonus got drastically cut in less than 10 minutes, the local officials still applauded the President.

Mr. Duterte will be giving away P1.87 million for village chiefs alone. Davao City has 187 villages.

A village has seven councilors, so the President has to give P3,927,000 to the 1,309 councilors, or P3,000 each.

In his speech, Mr. Duterte said the money he was giving away as additional bonuses and Christmas gifts to officials and other recipients did not come from government coffers.

He said the money was given to him by the tycoon—whom he did not identify—as campaign contribution, but he had turned it down and ordered its return.

Mr. Duterte said he did not include the money, the amount of which he did not specify, in the statement of contribution and expenses he submitted to the Comelec because he had not formally accepted it in the first place.

Under the Omnibus Election Code, candidates are required to file a “full, true and itemized statement of all contributions and expenditures in connection with the election” within 30 days after the election.

Nondisclosure of donors is an election offense.

On Dec. 23, Mr. Duterte said during the Christmas party of the Office of the President that San Miguel Corp. president Ramon S. Ang had given him money during the campaign. He also thanked Ang for helping his administration.

During and after the election campaign, Mr. Duterte repeatedly said he had turned down offers by some businessmen to fund his run for the presidency.

Among those whose offers he had rejected were tycoon Lucio Tan and owners or officials of mining companies. He did not accept the offers because the donors have interests or business with the government, according to Mr. Duterte.

“I assure you that I never really accepted money from any mining company. That I can assure you,” Mr. Duterte said shortly after winning the presidency.

He said accepting campaign money from businesses with interests or deals with government was not only a bad practice but would also compromise his leadership.

Mr. Duterte then announced he was opening up the economy to more players, adding that “(t)he only way for the deliverance of this country is to remove it from the clutches of the few people who hold the power and money.”

He said oligarchs and capitalists, who have been in control of the country’s economy for so long, could not prevent him from doing so because he had no debt of gratitude to them.

“I do not owe you anything. That’s precisely why I was avoiding you during the last election. I am not trying to destroy you. You have the advantage. You’re here already. Be content with that. But let us open everything,” he told reporters last month. —WITH A REPORT FROM  INQUIRER RESEARCH