Duterte’s habitual tardiness due to ‘too many commitments’–aide

Presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has gained notoriety for being habitually late in meetings, speaking engagements and campaign rallies.

Why is he always late?

His closest aide and executive assistant Christopher “Bong” Go told INQUIRER.net that Duterte had many commitments and had to divide his time to attend to all his engagements.

“Sobrang dami niyang commitment. He has to divide his time,” Go said in a phone interview.

“He made sure na napupuntahan niya lahat. Binibigyan talaga niya ng pansin ang bawat engagements niya,” Go added.

For instance, Duterte was around five hours late for a supposed roundtable meeting with an agri-fishery alliance in Ortigas on Friday night at 11 p.m.

It was rescheduled to 1:30 a.m. but Duterte wasn’t around yet by that time. His camp said the mayor was on his way to the venue.

Go explained that Duterte attended a series of campaign sorties on Friday.

The mayor was in Occidental Mindoro on Friday to meet with his various support group leaders and hold a rally in the province.

After the rally, Duterte went straight to Laguna for another sortie, which was attended by thousands of people who didn’t mind waiting for him in the streets.

Go said Duterte, despite being late, had a meaningful two-hour discussion with the leaders from the agriculture and fishing industries at past 3 a.m.

He said the organizers knew Duterte was running late but they insisted that the meeting push through.

After the meeting, Duterte had to prepare for another series of campaign sorties in Masbate on Saturday.

On April 8, Duterte was an hour-and-a-half late for a speaking engagement at a tourism event in Pasay City. Asked about his tardiness, the mayor said “a lot of people wanted to have selfies” with him.

In a campaign rally the next day, despite having people wait for him for at least six hours, Duterte received a rock star welcome from the crowd.

The mayor, who came from a Palawan sortie, told the audience his flight just got delayed.

In his series of campaign sorties in Bulacan on April 13, his scheduled rally and motorcade were also moved.

Duterte usually begins his campaign run in the afternoon and extends it to the wee hours.

While some may be bothered by his perennial tardiness, the thousands of people that spill into the streets during his campaign sorties seem to show that this does not affect Duterte’s popularity. RC