Pres. Rody Duterte: “It’s lonely at the top but the only reason I am staying in the job is my love for the country.”
It has started to sink in. Despite the adulation of millions
who gave him the biggest number of votes in history for any Philippine
presidential candidate, President Rodrigo Duterte is now feeling lonely at the
top – and agonizing over being overworked and underpaid.
“Do not feel shortchanged. My will to work is there. But if
you ask me if I’m happy, I am not. It’s lonely. And even when I am home, it is
still work,” Pres. Duterte said in an address to the officers of the League of
Cities and Provinces last July 28, 2016.
“I am not used to this kind of life,” he added as he asked
the officers to take their seats and address him as a Mayor instead.
The Chief Executive had served as Davao City Mayor for
decades. As Mayor, President Duterte would make the rounds of his city
incognito or spend time with friends at his favorite piano bar after work,
before calling it a day.
He admitted feeling uncomfortable being called or addressed
as President, as he offered to resign and vacate his post in three to four
years if or when the French model of a federal system of government is adopted
in the country.
The 71-year-old Chief Executive said his guards would knock
at his door each morning to wake him up to start the workday.
There were times, he continued, that he would shed tears
while walking, remembering his father, or thinking about the problems facing
him as President of the country.
It is during these moments that he would simply tell himself
“That’s life.”
“Nagpaloko lang kasi ako… gusto ko suntukin ‘yung
(nanloko),” Pres. Duterte said.
“Tapos pag-uwi ko magba-barge… matulog. Wala na lahat. Pagod
ka na… tapos tinanong ko ang sweldo, P130,000 – ‘Di mabuti pa nag-mayor ako yon
lang pala. Ewan ko nga kung may allowance pa ako dito o wala. Hindi ako
makatanong. Wala man akong matanungan,” he said, referring to the river
crossing he makes each night from the Palace to Bahay Pagbabago across the
Pasig, the Coast Guard ever alert.
The President stressed the only reason he is staying in the
job is his love for the country.
The tough-talking President Duterte – both famous and
notorious for his unconventional approach to stamping out criminality, at times
in a kind of brinkmanship with the law itself – was catapulted to power by over
16 million votes in the last May 9 elections.
His campaign platform of change captivated a nation bruised
by poverty, as well as by bureaucratic corruption and inefficiency.
He spends half the workweek in Manila, and goes home to
Davao usually every Thursday to spend the weekend, and where more often than
not he stops by the After Dark piano bar to sing a song or two, some maruya
(fried banana fritters) on the side.
By Sunday he’s back in Manila, and to the reality of being
president of more than 100 million Filipinos.
Pres. Rody Duterte: “It’s lonely at the top but the only reason I am staying in the job is my love for the country.”
Reviewed by Yen
on
March 14, 2017
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