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PRESIDENT RODRIGO DUTERTE praised Zamboanga City Mayor Beng Climaco during Tuesday oath-taking of the newly-elected officers of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) in Malacañan Palace in Manila.
Duterte even noticed Climaco’s simple, yet beautiful blue, red and burgundy-striped blouse and a pair of electric blue pants and doll shoes while she was seated along other well-dressed mayors.
In giving importance to dozens of mayors and officials of the Liga ng mga Barangay, Duterte said the local chief executives are tough public servants and singled out Climaco.
“Yan si Beng, oh galing pa ng Zamboanga yan. (Ma)tigas ka talaga (at) bilib ako sa iyo,” Duterte told Climaco who defeated Rep. Celso Lobregat in the midterm polls to win her 3rd and last term as mayor.
Lobregat was even endorsed by Duterte himself after personally coming to Zamboanga just to campaign for the former lawmaker who served Zamboanga for over 20 years as congressman and mayor. But Zamboangueños rejected Lobregat’s candidacy and not even Duterte’s endorsement of him matter and Climaco won with a huge margin.
Despite being with another political party, Climaco has strongly supported Duterte and his programs and advocacies. She was among the few who immediately responded to the President’s call to help the government in supporting other agencies to hasten public service.
Climaco has donated many new prowl cars to the local police force and a dozen new fire trucks to the Bureau of Fire Protection and is active in Duterte’s anti-drug and anti-smuggling campaigns in Zamboanga.
Aside from Climaco, Duterte also praised three members of his Cabinet—Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, and Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez—for their excellent performance.
Duterte assured the local chief executives of equal distribution of government money, particularly on infrastructure spending. He also told the mayors that Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado can act as intermediary between him and them.
“Wendel is just a worker. You can go to him. If there’s a really need for you to tell him, just tell them. Just tell anybody, ‘Del, can I talk to the President?” he told the local officials.
“The money of the people of the Republic of the Philippines will be equally divided, yung proportionately. Pero makita ninyo ang pinakamaraming infrastructure dito sa Luzon and sa mga Visayas…the airports there. Ang Mindanao, sabi ko maybe towards the end of my term kung may maiwan pa,” he added.
Duterte also made an assurance that he would defend local officials from prosecution and harassment similar to the protection he has extended to the members of the police and the military for as long as those are in connection with the performance of their duties.
“If there’s anything…kung kaso…if it is in the performance of your duty, do not worry. I will defend you to death. Lakarin ko basta performance of duty, lalo na sa pulis pati ‘yung sa mga military. Pati kayo, so that you can do your duty without fear na matakot kayo,” he said. (Mindanao Examiner and Zamboanga Post. Additional report from Christian Olasiman.)
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