Zubiri ‘very much qualified’ to be president, jokes Tesda head

Senator Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri is “very much qualified” to be the next president of the Philippines, Secretary Guiling Mamondiong said jokingly on Thursday.

Mamondiong, Director General of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), made this supposed promotion on the senator from Bukidnon, during the agency’s 2018 Institutional Awards.

“Migz Zubiri is very much qualified to be the next president of the Republic of the Philippines from Mindanao,” he said, while being serious that the next leader should come from Mindanao like President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Dapat po ang sumunod na pangulo ng ating bansa ay galing sa Mindanao na rin. Pagbigyan naman ninyo kami. Minsan lang may maupo,” Mamondiong said.

(The next president of our country should also come from Mindanao. Give this to us. It only happens occasionally.)

“If there is anyone…whose heart and mind is with wisdom, it’s Senator Migz Zubiri,” Mamondiong added.

He said Zubiri whom he tagged as the first senator to extend skill trainings in Bukidnon is much needed in the country for being “humbled” and “low-profile.”

But joking aside, Mamondiong lamented how Mindanao was left to piles of trouble including poverty and terrorism, while he said Luzon continuously developed.

“Napabayaan po for the longest time ang Mindanao, and nagkaroon kami ng MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front),” he said while citing other isolated groups, supposedly implying it’s because no president came from the region other than Duterte.

(Mindanao was left unattended for the longest time.)

Zubiri in his speech during the event responded by jokingly thanking Mamondiong.

“Thank you for promoting me to be president,” he said.  /muf