Morning News USA was among the very first publications that
compared now president-elect Rodrigo Duterte to White House hopeful Donald
Trump. But as the Philippine election draw to a close, and he continues to lead
by a huge margin – more than 6 million – from his rivals, this means something
about the trust that Filipinos cast upon the controversial candidate.
Before
becoming the first president to garner the highest number of votes –15, 970,
000 as of press time – in a
presidential elections in the Philippines, Duterte is a beloved mayor to his
constituents in Davao City.
Davao
is dubbed as one of the most livable cities in Asia by the Asia Week Magazine and the lone Philippine city to ever
make it to the top 20 list.
On
winning the highest position in the land, Alger Dura, a veteran Filipino
journalist, who is based in Davao City told Morning News USA what he liked the
most about Duterte.
“I
like the character of President-elect Rodrigo R. Duterte because he is a
charismatic and disciplinarian type of leader. And to mention a few, I
supported his landmark legislation in Davao City such as anti-smoking,
firecracker and liquor ban ordinances. Undeniably the people of Davao have
benefited from these ordinances under his administration,” Dura said.
Dura
added that Duterte’s good heart to serve the poor and to his constituents
overpowers the image of a tough-talking public official that people outside
Davao City are trying to portray of him.
Asked
what the best character that made Duterte unique among the other candidates who
also vied for the highly-coveted position, Dura said, “On corruption issue, the
good mayor has never been charged in court, hence, the Filipinos are hoping
that the next president is not corrupt. To my mind, he has good record and
leadership was the basis of 15 million voters who wanted him to lead the
Philippines.”
Celeste Paraiso, a housewife from Panabo City, a neighboring
city of Davao likewise said Duterte’s ‘simple’ character appealed to her.
“Duterte is a simple man. Service oriented, helpful, and
disciplinarian,” Paraiso added.
Morning News USA has in fact came across a Facebook post made a
year ago from one residents of Davao. In the photo, Duterte was seen driving a
cab late at night.
The photo was taken by a commuter who happened to hail the cab
Duterte was driving at the time.
“A Mayor’s salary is not enough. That’s why I drove a taxi every
night for supplementary needs,” Duterte told the commuter when asked why he was
driving at the time. He added: “I wanted to see the image of Davao City in my
own eyes. I drove a taxi and stop by random street corners. So if I caught you
doing something wrong, GOOD LUCK.” (see photo below)
Few days before the election, Duterte made headlines when he
arrived for an engagement wearing shoes with one loose sole. According to him,
someone stepped on his shoe, hence the mishap. How old could the shoe be?
Just recently, Duterte became the third Filipino personality to
ever be featured by one of the most prestigious publications in the world, Time
magazine on its cover page.
The lowly mayor of Davao City is Time’s May 23 cover with a
title ‘The
Punisher: Why Rodrigo Duterte is the Philippine’s new leader’. The same magazine
coined the title ‘The Punisher’ for this Southern Philippines mayor when they
featured him in an article in 2002.
Based on the latest partial and unofficial counting of votes,
Duterte is approaching the 16-million mark of votes, the most number of votes
ever garnered by a Philippine president during the elections. He got more than
six million votes from his closest contender, former local government secretary
Mar Roxas.
Reacting on the recent feature of Time on Duterte, the outgoing
administration, through the presidential secretary Herminio Coloma, said it
only shows that the country’s local political scene interests the international
community.
“As one of the leading news publications in the world, Time
magazine has an interest in our country’s political development,” Coloma was
quoted as saying by the Philippine Star via the Yahoo News SG.
Coloma was referring to the May 23 issue of Time Magazine Asia.
It’s the same publication that featured late Philippine President Corazon
Aquino three times and her only son, then senator and the country’s outgoing
President Benigno Aquino III.
In a separate article from Time, Duterte is considered as the ‘wildcard’ in the
line up of world leaders. In the same article, where five reasons were laid out
why Duterte is the country’s next leader, the mayor-turned president is seen to
be a game changer in different global issues, especially the highly contested
issue in the South China Sea. Duterte has earlier said he’s open to the
possibility of multilateral talks between China and other claimant countries.
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