Duterte Keeps Busy as Mayor

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte hanging out with civilians at a local coffee shop in Davao City.

Davao City, Philippines, 23 Sya’ban 1437/31 May 2016 (MINA) – President-elect Rodrigo Duterte stayed true to his word that he would skip his proclamation as the 16th president of the country at the House of Representatives on Monday, preferring instead to perform his usual duties as mayor of this city.

“He is doing his chores as mayor of Davao,” said Bong Go, Duterte’s long-time executive assistant, in a text message.

“There are still a lot of documents for signature,” Go added.

But sources said Duterte watched on TV the entire proceedings of the proclamation declaring the results of the May 9 elections for president and vice president.

On Saturday, Duterte said he would not attend his proclamation despite calls by some of his supporters to do so.

“I am not attending any proclamation. I have never attended any proclamation in my life,” Duterte said.

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“In all of my political aspirations, I won. I said maybe God would want me to taste defeat but it never happened.”

Duterte, who governed this city with an iron fist for 22 years, said his lawyers would represent him during the proclamation rites, adding he would fly to Manila on June 30, his inauguration day.

“If the flight is delayed, then there would be no inauguration,” he said in jest during a press conference last week.

Duterte won by a landslide with more than 16.6 million votes, making him the first Philippine president from Mindanao.,

He has been undefeated in all his political forays and even made history as having gotten the most votes in the history of the country’s presidential elections.

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He promised to hold another press conference today, a day after his proclamation as president.

Meeting with Cabinet

Meanwhile, the president-elect will meet members of his Cabinet here for the first time.

“He’s meeting with them tomorrow afternoon,” Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, who was Duterte’s vice presidential runningmate, told reporters yesterday.

He said he did not know if former budget secretary Benjamin Diokno has accepted the newly elected president’s offer to head the budget department again.

“If he shows up tomorrow, that means he has accepted it,” he said.

Diokno and former national treasurer Leonor Briones are among Duterte’s newest appointees. They served in the Estrada administration. Briones was offered the education portfolio.

For his part, justice secretary-designate Vitaliano Aguirre II said he expects Duterte to announce more officials today.

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“I think he will make more announcements. That could be the reason why we were asked to go there,” Cayetano said.

He said among the appointees he would like the president-elect to name is the new director of the National Bureau of Investigation.

Asked if he knows whether a Cabinet post would be offered to vice president-elect Leni Robredo, Aguirre said he did not know.

Duterte has told reporters that giving Robredo a Cabinet job has not crossed his mind yet.

He said in appointing his officials, he is giving priority to those who helped him win and to whom he owes a debt of gratitude.

During the election campaign, he said would be glad to appoint Robredo as “assistant president.” (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)