PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte and former Cebu City mayor Michael Rama met yesterday in the lobby of Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino just a few minutes before the former left to attend a town fiesta in Tabogon.
It was the third time that Duterte and Rama met after the latter was tagged as an alleged drug protector by the President in 2016.
“Actually, our first meeting was during our reunion in San Beda College last November, but we didn’t really have the chance to sit down and talk. We finally had the chance to (talk) last March,” he told SunStar Cebu.
Rama said he was on his way home from a trip in Iloilo when he found out that Duterte was spending the weekend in Cebu.
He immediately called Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go to ask if he can talk with Duterte over the phone “just to wish him well.”
“But Bong told me they were in separate rooms, so he just invited me to drop by and say hi if I can. He said, ‘ari nalang diri para mag kamayan mo’,” Rama said.
Rama said he made it just in time as President Duterte was making his way out of the lobby.
“My sibling and I were going to have lunch in the restaurant there so I just dropped by to welcome him to Cebu, asked him to always be safe, and that I will always give him my full support,” he added.
Asked if he has concerns for his security following the attack against Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot last week, Rama said he has “nothing to fear.”
Loot, who was tagged by Duterte as one of five narco-generals, survived a gun attack on his family last May 13. (RTF)