‘Manigas kayong lahat’: Roque touts Duterte for infrastructure success, ‘beating Covid-19’

MANILA, Philippines — “Manigas kayong lahat!”

This was presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s message to critics of President Rodrigo Duterte as he bragged about the administration’s accomplishments in infrastructure and “beating Covid-19,” among others.

“As we know the President has many critics and they will not stop until they regain power,” Roque said Friday during the presentation of the first Tunnel Boring Machine for the Metro Manila Subway Project.

“But presidents will come and go. But in the annals of Philippine history, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte will be remembered for the renaissance of infrastructure, for beating Covid-19, and of course for all the social legislation that he so shepherded including Universal Health Care and Free Tuition in State Colleges and Universities.”

“Let today’s event be recorded in the annals of Philippine history as another first of the Duterte administration and to his critics, I have only this to say: Manigas kayong lahat!”

The Department of Transportation on Friday unveiled the cutter head of the first tunnel boring machine that will be used for the partial operability section of the Metro Manila Subway Project.

It was in March 2018 when the government signed a P 51-billion loan agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency to jumpstart the project.

The total cost of the subway is estimated at P393 billion.

The first-ever subway in the country is expected to partially operate by 2022 and fully operate by 2026.

KGA