“Some say he is like Donald Trump. They are wrong. The right person is Lee Kuan Yew,” Arroyo said during the indoor flag ceremony she attended here with employees of the provincial government.
It was Arroyo’s first visit to the provincial Capitol here after she was set free by the Supreme Court after almost five years of hospital detention on charges of plunder.
The former president, now a congress woman representing the second district of Pampanga, said that like Lee Kuan Yew, Duterte is “matapat” (sincere) and “malinis” (morally upright.)
She said that Duterte’s style of governance resembles that of Lee who, she noted, instituted discipline as policy that turned Singapore into a fi rst world country.
Lee was Singapore’s prime minister for 31 years and had been widely respected as the architect of Singapore’s prosperity. But he was criticized for his iron grip on power. Under him freedom of speech was tightly restricted and political opponents were architect of Singapore’s prosperity. But he was criticized for his iron grip on power. Under him freedom of speech was tightly restricted and political opponents were targeted by the courts.
On the other hand, Trump is the Republican presidential candidate in the US and has earned criticisms for his unusual statements on immigrants and Muslims, among other issues.
“I first met (Duterte) when I was still trade undersecretary and he was the new mayor of Davao. Even then, he told me that peace and order was his priority because at the time, Davao had the highest crime rate in the Philippines. Now, Davao is one of the safest places to live in Asia,” she noted.
Arroyo also attributed her freedom to the Duterte administration. “Without Duterte, I would still be under hospital arrest,” she said.
She urged her provincemates to support Duterte, as well as Gov. Lilia Pineda.
“Pres. Duterte has a large role to play in our country and we must respond in a large way too,” she said in her message delivered entirely in Kapampangan.
