Duterte vows free education for all

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

DAVAO CITY – President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday told lumad parents they need not worry about sending their children to college as the government would now defray the cost of their education.

“If you want your child to go to Ateneo or La Salle or my school, San Beda, go ahead. Whoever want to do that, it’s free,” he said in a speech delivered before some 1,000 lumads attending the two-day Mindanao IP leaders’ congress here.

Duterte said it was not impossible now for any lumad family to dream of “having a doctor or a lawyer” because there would be free education.

“That’s how helping each other should be,” he added.

Duterte also said lumad women can now start learning new skills without worrying for their small children.

“Here in Davao, I have child minding (centers). Those who have to work but did not have nannies can always leave their children there,” he said.

But he said it was also important for the lumads to dissociate from communist rebels.

“Do not look for war, it has not given you anything at all,” he added. /jpv