I AM dazed trying to understand the so many eccentric characteristics of the new President Duterte. They are incalculable, almost capricious, whimsical, unpredictable and coming from him, just joking and not seriously meant.
Raising his voice almost in anger is when he talks of criminals, drugs, and heinous deeds. He says, I am not mean when I even burst with cuss words. I hate evil and promise my constituents that I will eliminate it for their peace of mind and prosperity in their lives.
I remember the president saying during the campaign season this statement: "If God wills it; I will be there. If God does not will it; I will not be there." This is his destiny.
I am with the Mayor all the time from the beginning of his declaration to run. I lost FB friends, Catholic friends and I accepted their decisions.
No regrets. I am for a change for the betterment of our nation. With the newspapers, TV, radio, party rallies, sponsored debates in media, I was able to discern on whom to vote for in the national elections. I chose the least of all evil candidate when my first answer was, "none of the above."
The endless roller coaster rides I had to bear hearing prospective candidates throwing mud at one another, character assassination here and there, threats, party patronages at all costs. Duterte's willingness to run was also a long story ending up in finally filing his COC at the last moment under the banner of his party. The rest is history.
With a convincing number of votes cast for him, he was declared the winner. As usual some citizens, millions of them, were celebrating their victory. The losers had all excuses why they lost.
Imagine, Binay, the most controversial candidate is ready to file a dissenting argument to unseat Duterte by impeachment and have him face the court for a crime. Now, I remember my late father telling me, if you want to lose your sanity or make rifts among clans, enter politics.
Bottomline now, Duterte is our elected president and his hands are full with the transition protocols preparing for his oath taking on June 30 at his Malacañang office. This is his choice instead of a grand expensive celebration at Luneta.
He once said Mayor-elect Sara Duterte will be his official First Lady. No grand fiesta atmosphere with all foreign ambassadors in attendance. He will still welcome them with a simple cocktail gathering serving soft drinks, juices but no liquors. The typical finger food will be served.
There is no grand sit down dinner which Duterte finds as inappropriate and expensive while the numberless homeless children sleeping under the bridges or in the parks are hungry and desolate. He will treat them to a party. I do not know if this will push through but he said he will do this. This is one eccentric idea of the new president. I want to imagine what the children will think about this- unbelief, are they dreaming or this is this really happening?
Daily, I would like to qualify every activity of the president into its nature. Very important, well planned, necessary like the appointment of his cabinet members; meet and greet the new president, leaders of other countries, ambassadors, dignitaries are welcome and received appropriately with all the common citizens who travelled from afar coming through land, air, and ocean transports cueing for hours waiting for their turn. Press conferences are scheduled but as of this time as I write my column, there had been much misunderstanding between the President and the press. Space will not permit me to write about this in detail so my readers can just tune in to any media available to them.
Imagine, I, myself spend hours keeping in touch with the president's activities, pros and cons fighting among themselves as to who are right or wrong. I develop headaches and have to rest and discern. One thing sure, I believe in the sincere efforts of the president to achieve his goals in his new brand of leadership.
He knows what he is doing. Others are surprised why he appointed many Mindanaoans in his cabinet. This is because he trusts them based on his experiences with them in the past. He has no intention of appointing officials from the present regime. His relationship with Vice President-elect Leni Robredo is open to many speculations because he said that he does not know her at all and giving her a position in his selections might be an insult to Bong Bong Marcos. Sorry, Mr. President, this is an undiplomatic statement.
The Vice President herself declared that she is willing to have an appointment with you so you may know more of each other. She declares she will support you all the way. She is bent in fulfilling her platform in connection with empowering the poorest sectors of our society by giving them incentives, specially the women in their homes who can learn something about earning a living. She refused having office at the Coconut Palace because of the huge expenses for renting it. She opts to hold office in Malacañang and satellite offices in any place in the country where she intends to improve the mode of life of the numberless poor. This is a commendable plan of service based on her platforms revealed during the campaign period.
Of vital concern and its positivity for implementation is the plan of President Duterte to hold office in Malacañang and in Panacan, Davao City daily. He plans to take plane rides and land vehicle rides daily to do this. Is it not the protocol that when the president is in the airport there is the rule of no air flight in the area till the President has left the airport.
Can you imagine what disturbance to plane passengers this will be? Is it not the promise of the president not to give inconvenience to the public because of him? Upon reaching Manila, the president will be fetched by a presidential car with a troop of PSG to secure him. They have to go through the traffic prone roads to reach Malacañang.
Maybe for this, the president can use the helicopter offered by Pastor Quiboloy, that can pick him up from Davao airport and land in the helipad of Malacañang. The tedious trips daily may affect the efficiency of the president in performing his official tasks.
These are the salient comments I can write about and I hope all the good points in the President's agenda of fighting crimes, drugs, rules of curfew for the youth specially, noisy karaoke bars, drunken driving, speed limits in main roads, parents apprehended for failing to discipline their children. I hope the dream Philippines embodied in the president's goals will be a reality in the near future. An ardent call for us all, citizens. Each one must obey the laws, lead a peaceful, fruitful life blessed by the Almighty.
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