Duterte on skipping barangay polls: ‘Purely political’

President Rodrigo Duterte visits the wake of former senator Edgardo Javier Angara at the Heritage Park in Taguig City on May 15, 2018. MALACAÑANG PHOTO

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said that his decision to skip voting on the first barangay elections under his term was “purely political.”

“Purely political. Lahat ‘yang tumakbo kaibigan ko. Almost all were my supporters during the last election,” Duterte said in an interview during his visit to the wake of former senator Edgardo Javier Angara in Taguig.

“They would never believe that I voted for them or not so I think the better option would really be to just skip the voting because I don’t want them to doubt me,” he added.

The President said he just monitored the nationwide village elections through “so many communication gadgets.”

“To erase all suspicions in the mind of people who really helped me along the way, sabi ko hindi na ako pupunta,” he said.

“But I was busy monitoring all over the Philippines in front of so many communication gadgets,” he added.

He said he just wanted to avoid candidates getting mad at him.

“Eh lahat halos may utang na loob ako, sa tulong nila,” he said.   /kga