Account for ‘Yolanda’ funds, Duterte challenges Roxas
DAGUPAN CITY, Pangasinan/ VIGAN, Ilocos Sur – Presidential aspirant Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte stormed two major cities in North Luzon Wednesday and Thursday, stirring the election
fever with a challenge and a promise, and receiving the “forgiveness” he had sought for the cuss words spoken in relation to the Pope.
Duterte’s challenge was for former Department of the Interior and Local Government ( DILG) secretary and administration standard bearer Mar Roxas. Duterte said Roxas should give a detailed report on the billions of pesos donated by foreign groups for the victims of super-typhoon “Yolanda” in 2013.
‘Where’s the billions?’ “I want to ask Mar, where are the billions that came from other countries after Yolanda,” Duterte said in his speech in Dagupan City.
Duterte said that Mar needs to explain that since the infrastructure built after the syper-typhoon got damaged when the next typhoons came.
Duterte, who received a warm welcome from Pangasinenses on Wednesday, said the present administration has been silent about how the billions of pesos the country received from foreign donors were used.
Meanwhile, Malacañang had explained the issue as: “All foreign aid received by the country for the benefit of the communities affected by supertyphoon Yolanda are fully accounted for,” Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement.
Forgiveness in Vigan In Vigan, Duterte received the “forgiveness” which he had sought for the cuss words he had said in relation to Pope Francis to emphasize a point about the monstrous traffic jams.
Clearly impressed by Duterte’s show of humility and remorse for his controversial statement in 2015, Monsignor Vicente Avila, parish priest of Metropolitan Cathedral here, said the Church understood where Duterte was coming from when he uttered words that many among the Catholic leaders and faithful resented.
“I told him that is already a thing of the past. Everybody is forgiven,” said Avila who represented Archbishop Marlo Mendoza Peralta in welcoming Duterte at the cathedral that serves as the seat of the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia.
Duterte and Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano, who stood in for husband and vice presidential candidate Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, were escorted to the cathedral by Ilocos Sur local officials led by Governor Ryan Luis Singson and Vigan City Mayor Eva Marie SingsonMedina.
“I am Rodrigo Duterte. I am asking for forgiveness now for taking the name of the Pope in vain,” the tough talking Davao City mayor immediately said after he was met at the Cathedral entrance by Avila.
“Those words that the mayor uttered were part of his nature. He says bad words and maybe he did not mean harm by saying it, he just mentions them as his way of talking,” the Catholic priest said.
He also pointed out that Duterte was merely trying to drive home a point about his disgust over the traffic jam that was caused by the Pope’s visit.
“I believe he didn’t mean any harm to the Pope. He was sincere and quiet in praying,” Avila said in an interview.
However, the Catholic parish leader explained that it would be best for Duterte to go through the process of confession “to be formally forgiven.”
It will be recalled that Duterte drew the ire of Catholic Church officials over his controversial comments about the monstrous traffic jams caused by the papal visit although his anger was directed towards the administration’s failure to address traffic problems during international events.
No concerted plan
Avila clarified that Peralta requested to stand in for him for Duterte’s visit because the archbishop attended to urgent matters.
“I do not think there is a concerted plan (among bishops) on him. The stand of the CBCP (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines) is to avoid politicking in the pulpit,” he stressed, after being informed of the cancellation of Duterte’s scheduled courtesy call on Dagupan-Lingayen Archbishop Socrates Villegas.
Villegas, CBCP president, had publicly chided Duterte for his statement against Pope Francis.
Tobacco fund
In Vigan City on Thursday afternoon, Duterte promised the farmers of the regular release of the RA7171 tobacco fund when he is elected as president.
“The RA 7171 funds should be released regularly to benefit the farmers in the Virginia tobacco producing provinces in La Union, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte and Abra,” Duterte said in his speech during what he calls his “Ronda Serye” listening tour.
Reports reaching Duterte during the forum said that local officials in the tobacco producing provinces often receive the excise tax fund after a long delay despite the regular collection from cigarette manufacturers.
National Heritage
At the ‘Ronday Serye,” Duterte and Cayetano pushed for the creation of a Department of Culture and National Heritage, which will be responsible for the promotion and preservation of historical and heritage sites.
The tandem explained that the department will help spur region-specific tourism in the provinces and create employment and other livelihood opportunities.
“This is in line with our call for federalism. Through this, we will hit two birds with one stone. We will promote our tourism industry in the regions and end the country’s disorder by addressing the livelihood needs of the people,” Cayetano said.
Cayetano explained that food vendors can double as tourist/ history guides to add to their daily earnings.
Duterte and Cayetano also visited the recipients of the Presyo, Trabaho, Kita (PTK) livelihood program of Sen. Cayetano at the Empanada Food Center in Plaza Burgos before going to the Saint Paul Metropolitan Cathedral for a prayer.
In Ilocos, 2,155 people from different sectors have benefitted from Cayetano’s PTK program which provided easy access to capital with a flexible system of loan payment.
“People need leaders with a clear vision, political will and strength of character to provide bold solutions to the people’s daily woes like high prices and low wages. This is what Mayor Duterte and I offer in this election,” Cayetano said.