Duterte rails against biases ‘YOUR HEROES HAVE MONUMENTS; BUT OUR HERO LAPULAPU IS A FISH’

By Manny Piñol

Manila – Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte, took his Federal advocacy to a different level Wednesday night when he said that the concentration of power in highly Centralized Government based in Metro Manila has spawned biases against people from the provinces, including heroes and historical personalities.

“You are so unfair. Your heroes here like Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio are installed on pedestals and their birthdays are declared public holidays,” Duterte told members of the different Rotary Clubs of Metro Manila who gathered at the Century Park Sheraton.

“But what have you done to our hero, Lapu-lapu, the first Filipino to fight the Imperialists? You named a fish after him and everyday you have fried Lapulapu and escabecheng Lapulapu,” Duterte said drawing wild laughter from the Rotarians who filled the function room of the Century Park Sheraton.

“Lapulapu is our hero and he ends up in the chopping board. We have another hero from Bohol, Francisco Dagohoy, who fought the Spaniards but his name is also given derogatory meaning,” he said.

“In police lingo, “Dagohoy” means a holdupper,” he said.

There are also other heroes from the Southern Philippines like Sultan Kudarat who ruled the plains of Central Mindanao in the 1600s who fought the invading Spaniards in bloody hand to hand combat.

He was declared a national hero, perhaps the only Muslim to be accorded the honor, by the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

Along with Lapulapu and Dagohoy, Sultan Kudarat is also largely unknown among people in the Northern Philippines.

“You have always looked at Mindanao as a distant star. But we are Filipinos just like you and I am here to ask you to make us feel that we are your brothers,” Duterte told the Rotarians.

The colorful Davao City Mayor’s appearance before the members of the different Rotary Clubs was part of the “Listening Tour” started by Duterte in January which has brought him to the different parts of the country to advocate for a shift from the Presidential Unitary form of government to a Federal Parliamentary form.

He said that a highly centralized government where almost every action by the local government units requires approval from the Central Government has stunted the growth of the regions.

Duterte cited the proposed light rail project for the city of Davao which was submitted to the National Economic Development Authority for review and assessment.

“It has been there for three years now but so far I have not received a word on whether they will approve it or not,” he said.

The proposed light rail transit is planned to connect the southern most barangay of Davao City to its northern district to cut travel time and address the expected traffic congestion with the projected growth of the city years from now.

The South Korean consultants who have proposed the project, however, have complained that they have been given a run-around in Metro Manila.

“Kaya ang dapat itawag sa NEDA ay NADA, as in walang nada,” he said.

After his Manila meeting with the Rotarians, Duterte flew to Bacolod for another leg of the “Listening Tour.”

(Photo caption: Mayor Duterte with Metro Manila Rotarians; images of Lapu-lapu and Sultan Kudarat, the Philippines earliest heroes.)