At the Capitol grounds and inside the building itself, a waiting coterie of local supporters had shirts emblazoned with “We are ready for Rody.”
He arrived to a flash mob of cheers, clicking cameras, flashing cellphones and a rush of news TV crews engulfing the Capitol lobby and rising up to the Office of the Governor, where waited Gov. Lilia G. Pineda and members of the sangguniang panlalawigan and more media. Ballers and stickers with his name were handed out to just about every one caught up in that frenzy.
For all that fanfare attendant to presidential campaigns, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte denies he is running for president in 2016.
“I am too old. I am 72. My best friends since childhood don’t want me to run. My family doesn’t want me to seek the highest post in the land,” Duterte replied to Pineda’s query of his plans for 2016.
Duterte paid a courtesy call on the governor Monday on his was way to the 49th general membership meeting and induction of new members of the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry ((PamCham) where he was to speak on “Federalism and Countryside Development.”
Federalism it is that Duterte brought out in his talk with the governor, expressing confidence that it is “the solution” to the country’s socio- economic and political problems.
“Federalism empowers the local government units to pursue their own destinies,” said Duterte. Asked by Pineda if he has pushed federalism to members of the House as it would require a congressional act to move in that direction, Duterte said congressmen “would not want anything that would dissipate their powers.”
He disclosed that Muslim groups outside the Moro Islamic Liberation Front as well as other minorities in Mindanao have consider federalism as an acceptable “option” to the contentious Basic Bangsamoro Law.
Duterte however was not clear-cut in his response to Pineda’s question how he could still pursue his dream of federalism if he retired from politics, as he claimed he would.
He said that like-minded leaders would also take the cause of federalism.
Lacson, Trillanes
If he had his way, Duterte told Pineda, he would rather see former Sen. Panfilo Lacson or Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV running for president in 2016.
“’Yan ang problema. Kaya gusto ko tumakbo si Lacson, si Trillanes, kasi when the smoke clears, dalawa lang [ang kandidato] e. Gusto ko mag-ambisyon yung iba kasi kulang pa tayo…I am urging them to file certificates of candidacy ngayong October,” Duterte said.
“Kulang tayo. Ang choices ng Pilipino medyo barado. Kasi ang pwede lang diyan si Binay at si…wala tayong ibang choice. Gusto ko dagdagan,” he furthered. At the PamCham forum held at Max’s Restaurant here, Duterte said he would keep his options open if ever he is “prodded and convinced to run for president.
Retirement
This, even as he reiterated his desire for retirement from politics:
“I will just retire and enjoy life and travel which I have not done much since becoming mayor of Davao. This is the second to the last leg of my listening tour which will end in Catanduanes. I am not campaigning but simply carrying on the call for federalism as initiated by federalist leaders led by Senator Pimentel.”
“Besides, what will I do as ‘president’ when we know that in our culture, after your term, you leave the Palace and outside a warrant of arrest awaits you,” he half-jokingly said.
God will weep
If a Duterte presidency would happen, “I will immediately start reforms. But if nothing happens in six months, I will abolish Congress and establish a revolutionary government, give teachers and military and police personnel higher pay and exempt those earning P25,000 and below from taxes. But God forbid, pag naging president ako baka mauna pang umiyak ang Diyos.”
