THE presumptive president, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, will not follow in the footsteps of his predecessor in being vindictive against his political rivals, a trusted aide said Thursday.
“When the election is over, he would help the person who lost and is down. The mayor is not vindictive,” Christopher Go, Duterte’s long-time executive assistant and campaign assistant manager, said.
After building up a commanding lead over his rivals in the unofficial quick count, Duterte offered to reconcile with his opponents, saying the time had come for healing.
This was in contrast to President Benigno Aquino III, who launched a campaign to jail his predecessor, the President Gloria Arroyo and the Chief Justice and Ombudsman she had appointed.
In a press briefing Thursday, Duterte’s spokesman, Peter Laviña, said that the incoming president’s inauguration ceremony would be “simple and frugal.”
“Mayor Duterte already said in the past that it will be simple [and] frugal. We have also to consider the prestige of the Office of the President so we will make the inaguration fitting for such institution,” Laviña said.
Duterte’s campaign finance chief Carlos Dominguez said the new administration would focus on removing opportunities for corruption and to ensure the Philippines is an attractive investment destination.
Duterte’s transition team also said outgoing Senator Pia Cayetano would take a Cabinet position to ensure greater representation of women in his government.
“Whether it is a man or a woman occupying that top-level position, we want to be sure that that person is gender-sensitive,” said Cayetano, who was also named as an adviser to the Duterte transition committee.
Laviña said some officials of the Aquino administration would be part of the new government, but he did not say who these were.
Laviña, meanwhile, said Duterte would attend a social gathering of Sultan Bolkiah in Brunei in August to strengthen diplomatic ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“We were told that in August, the Sultan of Brunei will host a gathering [for]…heads of states….This is purely a social gathering, not a state visit,” Laviña said.
The event will be a good opportunity to meet all the Asean leaders and to assure them that the administration is ready for and fully supports Asean integration, Laviña said.
Even before the May 9 elections, Duterte said he wanted to visit Pope Francis in Vatican City “win or lose not only to pay homage, but to ask for forgiveness” for cursing Pope Francis for causing traffic during his Manila visit in January 2015, Laviña said.
He said he was tasked to review the protocols on state visits.
The spokesman said Duterte also plans to see the exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison in the Netherlands.
“There was a discussion of a meeting last December,” he added.
In the Palace, a transition team met to prepare for the turnover of power at the end of June.
Aquino’s transition committee is headed by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. and will coordinate with Duterte’s transition team.
Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said, however, that no meeting between the two sides has been set yet.
Aquino earlier confirmed calling up Duterte’s executive assistant, Go, to inform them that an administrative order was being drafted to effect the “smoothest transition possible.”
Aquino, who will step down as president at noon of June 30, said he also offered to have his Cabinet brief Duterte’s team. With Sandy Araneta
