Should Duterte spend more time in Mindanao? Not a bad idea, says Roque

The presidential guest house in Panacan, Davao City. INQUIRER.net

It’s not a bad idea for President Duterte to spend more time working from Mindanao, according to his spokesperson Harry Roque who took note of the recent refurbishment of the chief executive’s Panacan office in his Davao City hometown.

Roque said Mr. Duterte would keep his Monday to Friday schedule in Malacañang, but could also work from “Panacanang” in Davao City, if he so wishes.

“I’m not saying that the President will actually come to Manila less. He continues to have his Mondays to Fridays schedules in Malacañang, but where it is more convenient to meet in Davao, he has met foreign dignitaries including Indonesia’s foreign minister in Davao,” Roque said in a press briefing in Bukidnon.

He pushed the idea of Mr. Duterte spending more time working from Davao.

“People in Mindanao, do you agree that the President should spend more time in Mindanao? I think that’s the overwhelming sentiment of people from Mindanao who have long complained not only of historical injustice but of a bias, developmental bias, in favor of Metro Manila,” he said.

“So it may not be a bad idea if the President in fact spends more time in Mindanao as the people of Mindanao would want him to do so,” he added.

Roque noted that Panacanang was recently refurbished, and Mr. Duterte toured him around the place.

He predicted that Mr. Duterte would be spending more time in Davao City.

Aside from meeting Indonesian dignitaries in Panacanang, Mr. Duterte also gathered police officials there recently to discuss Davao City’s emergency response program.

President Duterte, who stays at Bahay Pagbabago in the Malacañang compound when he is in Manila, regularly goes home to Davao City.

He usually takes a private flight to return to his hometown. He has taken commercial flights in a few instances.