Duterte stays away from media on eve of People Power celebration

President Rodrigo Duterte (File photo from an RTVM video)

DAVAO CITY — President Rodrigo Duterte stayed away from reporters on Saturday, the eve of the anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolt.

But Duterte, who came home from Manila on Friday, faced businessmen on Saturday in two separate events – both off-limits to media.

At past 5:00 p.m., he received Dominic Sytin, president and chief executive officer of United Auctioners Inc. here.

The details of the meeting were not made available.

At 7:36 p.m., Duterte graced the mini convention of Mindanao dealers of Petron at the SMX Center in Lanang.

His partner, Cielito “Honeylet” Avanceña, was at the event, being a Petron dealer who operates a number of gas stations here.

The convention was aimed at assessing Petron’s placement in the petroleum industry and was also a venue for dealers to discuss their difficulties, if any, during the past year.

Based on an insider information, Petron dealers had faced challenges from dealers of new petroleum industry players such as Davao-based Phoenix, which had been aggressively expanding across the country.

The challenge included pricing, especially with the imposition of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) law, which pushed prices of petroleum products up. /atm