Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte continues to draw voters with his outlandish promise to eliminate criminality in the first three to six months of his presidency.
Duterte’s anti-crime policy has found traction with the citizenry who has grown weary of the surge in crime and will vote for anyone who can give them relief.
Buhay Party-List Rep. Lito Atienza, the anti-thesis of everything Duterte stands for, warned voters to be careful what they wish for.
“It’s frightening that on the morning of May 10, Filipinos might just wake up to learn that Duterte is the new president of this country of 100 million,” said Atienza.
The three-term Manila mayor is not running for president nor seeking a Senate seat. But he has grown concerned that Duterte’s numbers in the poll surveys continue to climb.
Duterte is advocating a presidential policy that seeks to promote a “culture of death” which is drawing away votes from Senator Grace Poe, former DILG Secretary Mar Roxas and Vice President Jejomar Binay of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance.
Atienza has decided to seek reelection as Buhay Party-List representative where he believes he can do more. A run for the Senate is too expensive without any assurance of winning. His chances of winning as one of three nominees of Buhay, being the constant top-notcher among the party-list groups, give him confidence of being able to contribute in passing laws for the benefit of the common man.
Atienza noted that after six days of hearing by the Senate Blue Ribbon committee looking into $81 million hacked from the Bangladesh bank account in New York, there has been no serious proposal to amend the Anti-Money Laundering Law. He intends to pass legislation in the next session of Congress to include casinos and the real estate industry under the coverage of the AMLC.
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It’s interesting to note that the tough-talking Rodrigo Duterte topped that last Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations poll surveys for preferred presidential candidates for the May 9 elections which is only 17 days away.
After cursing visiting Pope Francis last year for aggravating Metro Manila’s traffic, Duterte has found himself in a new controversy for a distasteful joke about an Australian missionary gang-raped in Davao. While he had apologized for the rape joke which had gone viral, Duterte only added to the flame when he invoked his right as Davao mayor to have been the first in line to the beautiful Australian missionary.
There was no word from Duterte whether he has punished the perpetrators. His daughter Sarah also claimed she was raped but again there was no word Duterte had executed the criminal.
Lito Banayo, one of Duterte’s advisers, had his hands full in defending the Davao mayor and soften the impact of his bad rape joke even as women’s groups lashed back at him for his low regard of women.
Not too many know that a former president and the columnist of a major morning daily are supporting Duterte. The columnist romanticizes Duterte’s deeds in Davao while the former president is quarterbacking a group of Mindanao businessmen into funding the mayor’s presidential bid.
