Oath-Taking of BoD and Officers of the PCCI, ECOP, PhilExport and PFA

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s speech during the oathtaking of the Board of Directors and Officers of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (PhilExport) and Philippine Franchise Association (PFA) held at the Rizal Hall, Malacañang on 23 August 2016.

We’ve all been introduced and I know almost everybody of you, if not personally, from the magazines that I read from time to time.

And I know that we are here assembled this afternoon because of one desire and that is because we are Filipinos and I would like to see our country move ahead to the next generation. I hope to hand over to whoever is my successor the imponderables of life. I would like to hand to her or to him a government that is in order.

You know, the society now that we are trying to correct along the way for the few months, we are really in disorder because the number one problem is government and corruption.

This has been going on for the last so many… I think they started with Magellan and Lapu-Lapu exchanging money somewhere, but we cannot really move on how to improve unless we can correct corruption in government. I was moved to declare all positions vacant for those who are appointed by the president and even if it is… well of course, do not wait for the reason because it is always graft and corruption. So if I will ask your… or demand your resignation, it only means one thing: that the Filipino, through me - the appointing power, has lost its confidence for you to handle the affairs of government whatever it is. It remains really a problem in the regulatory bodies and agencies.

Di ko malaman kung anuhin ko itong, you know, I’ve been trying to warn everybody and I was hoping that I would not have to name them for the reason that I asked those who are involved in so many wrongs to resign before I take my oath of office.

Apparently itong sa probinsya, though no fault of Galvante or Attorney Delgra, they have nothing to do with it. Corruptions starts even upon the filing of papers and… sa probinsya ho, madalas pa rin eh. I am brought to desperation of what I will do with them. Maybe I will just also declare them just like the hunted men sa droga para matapos na ang kalbaryo ng Pilipinas.

Ayaw talagang maghinto ang mga… (laughter) so, in the next day, I’ll just conduct a purge, I told you, we have to go into a purge. It might not include the technical people and for those who are really in the Civil Service roll of employees, they are not included but it would send the message that… tanggalin ko itong lahat and even my appointees or those who are there at my behest during the previous administration.

I was quite well in good terms with Arroyo and Aquino. We supported President Aquino during the last elections and one or two or three pinagbigyan niya ako. But I said looking at it now there seems to be no loyalty when it is money that is involved, and we cannot… to progress really.

Do not bleed hearts for them because they ought to be out and I would not… I would be the last person in this planet to do an unfair thing. I would never want to hurt anybody or the family reduce in income… pero ang problema nito, most of them must change their lifestyle because of a reduced income. Yan ang problema, kung hindi ka maka-adjust diyan, kasi baka yung suweldo mo eh pang-ano lang yan, pangdagdag na lang yan and you have been in graft for so many years and for so many decades, you have to go.

I will… until maybe Christmastime but not on Christmas Day. Mahirap naman yan, masakit yan. Titignan ko lang lahat yung may mga kaso, yung may mga kaso, tapos for one reason or another na ano na sa Ombudsman and na-pending for the last three years. There’s no reason at all to hang on to them. Better go, hindi naman talaga… well, I’m a prosecutor for about 10 years doing trial work and I know how it is, how it is being played.

Tanggalin talaga natin yan and make sure that… hindi na kailangan eh. Report mo lang kay Sonny, kay Sir Ben Diokno and kay Medialdea. Si… isabi mo lang kay Bingbong, huwag mo ng sabihin yang pangalan mo and I will start the investigation, eh hindi yan investigation na kagaya ng mga korte, ng mga Ombudsman. I’ll just call for you and ask you. I will ask them to report to me.

Like for example, I heard that he has already resigned, yung LTFRB sa Cagayan. Siguro inunahan na niya ako, ayaw niyang pumunta dito, baka alam mo, matagal na yang Pasig diyan, ang mga isda eh di nakatikim ng tao. Puro kinakain niyan, water lily na lang. (laughter) Napipilitan ako magsalita ng ganon kasi talagang… I am pissed off, simply pissed off. Ako na mismo, sinasabi ko, “Huwag.”

Mabuti pang… unang tumino talaga na matino ang military, Armed Forces. So I’m very happy, that’s why I’m quite comfortable with anybody there procuring something and besides, I do not believe in that lowest bid? Aysus maryosep! That’s the source of all corruption, yung lowest bid, yung manalo niyan, yung wala talagang i-bid. He’s not even a bidder, he’s just there to get the award and give it to somebody else for a fee.

So I’d like you to… just let me know, what are the standards that you’d like me to follow for after all, I am not a businessman. Do not just presume that I would know the wherewithals of our economic life. Ako naman, I have done my duty, I could not have graduated from AB without passing economics. So tatama na yun. Ano pa bang gusto ninyo, mag-masters pa ako sa UP? (applause) So if that is how limited my horizons are, that is good because I passed the… nakalusot ako ng AB eh, although it’s about, siguro 78 pero okay na yun. (laughter) Nakakahilo kasi yang mga mapa-mapa na ganon. I do not want that, but at least I am very frank with you, I have assembled the best of all.

Ito, kilala ko lahat, kababata ko ‘to and my classmates. Eh magtanong kayo bakit hindi niyo kinuha yung top na ano diyan eh hindi ko kasi kilala. Taga-Davao, marami. Then dito, wala. Hindi naman ninyo ako niyaya noon, we were social outcast, we were just in the dormitories and wala naman kaming mga party-party na mapag… makilala sana namin yung mga tao na would really count. Sabi naman nila, because business is here in Manila but destiny has something to do with it and I would not like to waste that gift from God.

Alam naman ninyo, I… wala nga akong… there were about four governor, three, who supported me? Wala akong barangay, ni isang outside of Davao City. And yet by this year, numbers… you’d know that people are trying to communicate to us through me. Wala, hindi nila ako kilala eh. I was not even on the national scene. I was not being… nandiyan nakalabas palagi sa TV. And as a matter of fact, given my character, I simply want to withdraw kung makita mo ako sa public, the better. Huwag mo akong batiin, the better isnabin mo ako, mas lalong maganda. Ayoko yung… basta I do not go out and socialize. I’ve been a very withdrawn person. Kung nakakilala kayo sa akin, kaya na-presidente ako, maraming hinimatay eh ganon talaga ang buhay. (laughter) Wala tayo magawa diyan. So tulungan ninyo ako dito because I’m trying to create the environment for really to do business especially in Mindanao.

If perchance, I could hit a deal with the Left, we’re halfway through. And maybe, the indication that they are really willing to talk is they allowed their compatriots to join government service. So that’s one. Second is… ilang beses na ako… some opportuned times really to… picking a quarrel. Puro hindi naman sila pumatol.

So behooves upon me now to declare after this meeting, I will… because they have declared the ceasefire, huwag nang patagalin para you know, just pick a fight there. Payag na ako and they’re there already in Oslo: Dureza and Bebot Bello, I don’t know if they’re really working there or doing something else. Alam mo, itong dalawa, bolador rin ito eh. (laughter)

But anyway, it would be a good start. Now, if I can strike a deal with the MI pati MN ke ano, and probably it’s a gift also from the heavens. Ang kalaban na lang natin, ito yung mga gangster, the brigands the bandits. They have nothing to offer except to torture and kill people in front of humanity.

This Abu Sayyaf must be destroyed. Huwag na yang human rights, human rights. The drug apparatus must be destroyed, I’m not talking about killing or they have to be destroyed because they pose the greatest danger for our children for the next generation. Pag hindi niyo hinintuan, well, alam mo kasi kung hindi ako na, kayo eh, mabuti’t na lang, nanalo ako. Kaya, alam ko hindi kayo bumoto sa akin pero kung hindi ako nanalo, my God, tignan mo, I was the favorite whipping boy, as a human rights violator. I did not know the dimension of the drug problem to a T. But alam kong malala, kaya dun sa aking lugar, I was really fighting it, tooth and nail kami doon.

When I became president, inipit ko na lahat, so lumabas. Never mind the earlier statistics of PDEA that there are 3 million Filipinos addicted to meth. Huwag na lang yan, yung nag-surrender na, natakot na lang ang nagpalantad. How do you solve 600,000? Kung 3 million as predicted by PDEA, that was two years ago, you add the new ones who have been hooked into drugs, give it at a very liberal growth, something like 700,000 lang. So you have these 3,700,000 idiots running lose in the community.

Remember that shabu, constant use of shabu even for six months to one year will cause the shrinkage of the human brain. Kaya yung mga anak ng kilala ninyo, pag sumagot pa-ganon-ganon na, at kung mag-ganon, paano maging functional na tatay yan? And most of them, yung tinamaan naka-generation na, the lower… about 20… pinaka, so it results in the breakage of the family, wala na mga anak. Walang… ang pamilya, pag naghiwalay ang asawa, there’s no direction anymore in the family. And to think that that would be the generation that would come after us, these idiots do not realize that. Itong UN at lahat ng… they’re only concerned with one. One thousand bones? Di ba nakita itong hundreds of thousands of Filipinos. What do we expect of our country that… for the next generation?

Now, if you have time, you buy the book Ioan…, it’s about… it’s online, makukuha mo yan. It’s about the drug cartel of South America and how they reduced these countries into Pneurian brutality. Sabihin ko kay De Lima lahat sila. “Putang-ina ninyo, wag ninyo ako isali diyan. Basta sa panahon ko, hindi mangyayari yan.” I will never allow na I will pass this generation, tapos, tama yung sinabi mo.

I’d like to complete the Lincoln statement. He said that, bata ko yun eh, idol ko, “if I were to try to read, much less answer, all attacks against me, the shop, the presidency, might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best that I know how, the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. (applause) If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won’t amount to anything. But if the end brings me out wrong, ten angels of God swearing I was right would make no difference.”

Mali ka pa rin. So ganon lang yan, I cannot answer everybody. And basta ako trabaho.

This fight against drug will continue to the last day of my term. The fight against corruption will continue for six years. Maybe, maybe also, many will be unhappy, but I think the bigger picture is that I would have something to leave by for my country.

Maraming salamat po. ●