Be patient, Rodrigo Duterte tells supporters

Rodrigo Duterte gestures during a speech at the founding anniversary of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption in July held in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. RAFFY LERMA

DAVAO CITY—Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has appealed to his supporters to give him more time to decide whether to join the 2016 presidential race.

Duterte spoke at a rally here organized by the Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for President Movement. The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) supported the push for Duterte to run for President.

“Give me some time (to decide),” Duterte said at the rally as the crowd of at least 10,000 people roared in approval.

“I’ll talk to my family again,” he said.

The feisty mayor has repeatedly said he was not interested in running for President because he has no money to sustain a national campaign.

He said while some big election spenders had assured him of funding, he had to turn them down because he did not want to incur debts of gratitude.

Duterte also said one of the reasons he is begging off from the presidential race is his age. The mayor is now 70 years old.

He also said his family is opposed to the idea.

“My daughter (former Mayor Sara) Inday is already angry at me. She is the most vocal. She told me I’m old already. Her mother also said no. But I think I need to talk to them,” he said at the rally.

Duterte said if Sara continues to oppose the idea of him running for President, “I will bring her here and we will make her run instead.”

Duterte was also apparently surprised at the large crowd that gathered here to urge him to accept the challenge of running for President.

“If my children will see this, they might change their mind already. They must be here somewhere” he said.

As the crowd roared and chanted “run Duterte run,” the mayor said: “It’s nearing, just be patient. Just give me some more time to talk to my family. I hope you will respect that.”

He then teased the crowd by posing them a question.

“Pray tell, who will lead Davao if I’m no longer here (as mayor)? Who will the criminals fear?” he said.

Duterte, as usual, drew a scenario of his presidency by saying he will institute massive reforms in government because he did not want to become a “jester or a puppet.”

“If they try to impeach me, I will declare a revolution,” he added, citing former President Joseph Estrada’s case, which sent the crowd roaring and chanting his name.

“My responsibility is to see to it that everyone is comfortable and safe. Compassion is not a weakness and violence is not a strength,” Duterte said as he denied anew that he ordered the killing of suspected criminals in the city.

He said he vowed to make Davao City a peaceful place and deaths had to be part of the process, although no extrajudicial killing has been carried out in the city.

He said he never ordered the police to just shoot and kill suspects because he fears karma.

“(Justice Secretary Leila) de Lima said I killed 1,000 persons. I have been mayor for 22 years and I only killed 1,000? That’s cheap,” Duterte said, adding that the peace and order problem could not be solved by killing suspects.

“That’s not the way democracy operates,” he said.

Mar Masanguid, prime mover of the Duterte for President Movement, said they did not expect Duterte to show up at the rally although they had invited him.

He said Duterte’s presence at the rally indicated that the mayor was softening on his earlier stand against running for President.

“We’ll have to wait. I think it will only be a matter of time before he announces his candidacy,” Masanguid said.

During the rally, a video of communist leader Jose Ma. Sison endorsing Duterte was also played.

Duterte reacted to Sison’s endorsement by saying: “This is the time the generals will shoot us. But it has always been like that.” Karlos Manlupig and Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao

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