Duterte to continue to help cops, military after term ends

File photo
File photo

WITH less than a week left in his term, Outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to continue protecting police and military officials and officers who will be facing charges even after his term ends on June 30.

Duterte made his remark during the awarding of Madayaw Residences Units in Davao City on Thursday, June 23.

"[E]ven if I’m no longer a mayor or a President, basta (as long as) if it is done in the performance of duty, tutulungan ko kayo maski saan, abugado ako. Ilulusot ko kayo (I help you because I am a lawyer. I will help you get out of it)," the President said.

"Just do it in the performance of duty," he added.

He also thanked the police and military for their support in ensuring the law and order of the city during his time as mayor.

"Without the support of the police and the military in the early days of my mayorship, I could not have succeeded. Davao would not be this beautiful, industrial buildings that would make our people happy," Duterte said.

The outgoing President also thanked his supporters who stood by him all these years.

He also told the International Criminal Court (ICC) in his speech to stop threatening to investigate the alleged crimes against humanity carried out in the administration’s anti-illegal drugs campaign.

"Ang ICC, nakikinig man kayo, huwag na kayong mag-drama ng idemanda-idemanda niyo (The ICC, if you’re listening, stop pretending that you’re going to file charges against me)," Duterte said.

In 2018, critics of Duterte's drug war, along with relatives of suspects killed in police operations, filed a complaint against the Chief Executive before the ICC for crimes against humanity.

Duterte had insisted that the ICC has no jurisdiction to investigate the drug war because the Philippine justice system is working.

The Philippines formally left the ICC on March 17, 2019, exactly a year after the scrapping of the Rome Statute.

Madayaw residences

Meanwhile, Duterte awarded 640 units of Madayaw Residences. According to the National Housing Authority (NHA), the Madayaw Residences is one of the government’s housing projects wherein beneficiaries of the units include uniformed service unit personnel, government agency workers, and overseas Filipino workers.

Duterte and NHA General Manager Marcelino Escalada Jr. handed the certificates to 12 awardees.

The President pushed the NHA to boost its mandate of providing housing to the public even as the agency transitions under a new leader. Duterte’s term ends on June 30, as his successor, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., takes the helm after.

"As the agency transitions under a new leadership in a few days, I urge the NHA to intensify its mandate of addressing the housing needs of our countrymen, especially the homeless, marginalized, and low-income families," he said.

Duterte's term will officially end at 12 noon on June 30. In previous speaking engagements, he said he will be going back to the city to spend his retirement.

Weeks before stepping down, he had been returning to the city and had been roaming around neighboring provinces in Davao Region along with his motorcycle. RGL

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