By Manny Piñol
My dear countrymen,
Yesterday, as the hands of the clock neared 5 p.m. and when it became clear that Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte was not going to heed the people’s call for him to be President of this country, rains fell on thousands of people who waited for him in Intramuros, Manila.
It was a heart-rending sight. I shed tears as I bit my lips.
It was a very sad ending to what they, you and I thought was a beautiful dream that was about to come true under the Presidency of Rody Duterte.
Rody Duterte has made a final decision that he will not seek the Presidency and whatever his reasons are, I will respect that.
We all should respect his decision.
I am writing this letter to you as I prepare to go home to Davao and then Cotabato because I believe I owe you an apology.
For almost two years now, since I brought up the idea of a President who could effectively control crime and enforce law and order in a city formerly known as the Killing Fields of Mindanao, you followed and read every posts I made in this page.
You believed in the dream. I believed in the dream as well.
We believed that Duterte was the key which would open the doors of a new world for us Filipinos – drug-free, crime-free, disciplined people, available and affordable food and jobs for everybody.
We believed that with Duterte as our leader we would all fall in line and queue up instead of scrambling for spaces inside the jam-packed MRT and that the drug dealers would be like meek cattle heading to the slaughterhouse.
How foolish of me.
I failed to browse on my Philippine history books and it was only recently when Heneral Antonio Luna reminded me and you that only we, Filipinos, could change ourselves.
Duterte is not running for President. That’s final.
I know you feel bad and betrayed.
Many are angry at Duterte for stirring their imagination on the kind of President and government this country should have but rejects the call of the people to run for President.
I believe we should not be angry at Duterte. We should rather thank him for setting the standards of what a President should be and how this government must be.
We should thank him for admitting that he himself may not be able to live up to the standards he set for the Presidency.
It is a pity that none of the persons running for the Presidency now comes near the standards set by Duterte.
This reality, however, should not stop us from continuing our efforts and advocacy to achieve change in this country.
Since we do not see a leader in the horizon who could lead the change, let us start it with our selves. Let us remember what Heneral Luna said “Walang makapagpabago sa Pilipino kundi Pilipino mismo.”
Please allow me to thank the millions who followed this page and the millions more who believed in the dream.
I will now retire in my farm and enjoy the love of my children and family.
I will nurse a wounded heart.
But I will continue dreaming that someday, one of these days, a leader who meets the standards set by Duterte for the Presidency will emerge in the political horizon and accept the challenge to lead this country.
When that time comes, I will pray that God will give me more strength and more days in my life so that the dreams that we nurtured over the last two years or so would finally be realised.
I hope and pray this happens in our lifetime.
My apologies and my deepest appreciation to you my dear countrymen for your resilience and faith.
May God bless you and protect your family and your loved ones. May God bless this country.
Sincerely,
Manny Piñol
Governor, North Cotabato 1998-2007
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