Back on the road

DUTERTE’S LISTENING TOUR

IN SIBALOM, ANTIQUE TODAY

By Manny Piñol

After an absence of two months following trips to South Africa, Mexico and the United States, I am back on the road for Mayor Rody Duterte’s “Listening Tour” for Federalism.

Yesterday, I took an early morning flight from Davao City to Iloilo City from where Duterte’s leaders in Iloilo led by lawyer Hansel Dedulo took me on a two-hour drive to San Jose de Buenavista in Antique.

Today, Mayor Duterte will be arriving in Antique, apparently his first visit to this beautiful province called by its residents as “The Land where the mountain meets the Sea, from where he will proceed to the university town of Sibalom for the Federalism Forum.

A group which calls itself the Friends of Mayor Duterte in Antique (FOMDIA) headed by Provincial Board Member J. Tobias Javier is organising the Federalism Forum, an activity supported by Sibalom Mayor Joel Occeña.

Shortly after my arrival in San Jose de Buenavista, I met with the provincial leaders of Duterte’s Federalism advocacy group and I was pleasantly surprised by the popularity of the Davao City mayor even in the largely isolated province.

Yesterday afternoon, I paid a call on an old friend and colleague in the Philippine Governor’s League, Governor Exequiel Javier, younger brother of martyred Antique Governor Evelio Javier.

Governor Javier won the elections in 2013 but was ousted from his post early this year on orders of the Commission on Elections after he allegedly violated the law by suspending a municipal mayor within 120 days prior to the elections.

There is a pending Supreme Court questioning the Comelec order filed by the lawyers of Gov. Javier.

At least 3,000 people are expected to gather today in Sibalom.

On Wednesday, Mayor Duterte flies to the Moro heartland for a Federalism Forum in Cotabato City.

(Photos: On the way to Antique, I posed for a picture in front of the 17th Century Miag-ao Cathedral; with Duterte’s Antique leaders; photo of my call on former Antique Governor Exequiel Javier with Board Members J. Tobias Javier and Dante Dava and Professor Roldan Gorgonio.)