Chapter 17 - A Friendship Story

In 1986, the 20-year dictatorial regime of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos was toppled by the People Power revolution spearheaded by then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and AFP Vice-Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Fidel Ramos with the backing of the influential Catholic Church headed by Jaime Cardinal Sin, Arcbishop of Manila. The mantle of national leadership fell on the shoulders of a plain housewife named Corazon Aquino. President Aquino declared a revolutionary government thus enabling her to replace all elected local officials with appointed ones until the next election is held. For Davao City’s vice mayoral post, she wanted to appoint a public-school teacher named Soledad Roa Duterte who belonged to her inner circle when they were fighting the dictatorship. But Soledad declined the appointment for the reason that she is already old. She advised President Aquino to appoint her son Rodrigo instead. That was how lawyer Rodrigo Duterte, who was then a prosecutor at the Justice Department became the OIC Vice Mayor of Davao City.

 

By this time, my brother Joey who, together with his older brother Chito, was working as broadcaster of Radio Station DXMF more popularly known as Radyo Bombo. One time, Duterte visited Joey in his workplace. “Joey, I’m Rody. We are townmates. I grew up and studied in Cabadbaran while my mother was teaching in the pilot school.” Of course, my brother knew him but that was how he introduced himself. “Hi Rod, what can I do for you?” “I’m planning to run for mayor this coming election and I need your support.”  

 

It was not a choice between life and death situations that requires Solomonic wisdom. Between two persons vying for the same political office---one, a townmate and the other a mere acquaintance, it’s so easy, if not obvious, who you should be supporting for. That’s how my brother became an avid supporter of Duterte, accompanying him on house-to-house campaigns, speaking for him in public fora and defending him in the airwaves on whatever issues. Came election time and Duterte won overwhelmingly.

That’s how Rodrigo Duterte started his political career. He was grateful of Joey’s support for him and they became friends. As mayor, he offered Joey any appointive position in the city that Joey might like to take but Joey refused, preferring to continue his work in radio broadcasting. During Joey’s wedding, he was the principal sponsor. On the next two elections, Duterte ran for re-election and consistently won. On the fourth election, he is not qualified to run for mayor anymore because the Philippine Election Law limits the terms of any elected official to only three consecutive terms, so he ran for Congressman instead and won. But he did not like his job in Congress which he dubbed “all-talk-no-action”. On the next election, he returned to the city to run for mayor and won handily. All these while, Joey was behind him, supporting him in every way.

In 2016, Mayor Duterte ran for president against four seasoned national politicians: Senator Mar Roxas, Jojo Binay, Mirriam Santiago and Grace Poe and won. He became the 16^th president of the Philippines and the only person from Mindanao who has ever assumed that prestigious office.

 

I visited the Philippines one month after Duterte’s win. When I met Joey in Davao, he asked me what was I planning to do in Davao. I had nothing planned, so I just told him jestingly that I want to see President Duterte in person just to congratulate him. But he answered me seriously that it could be done. Now, I would like to emphasize here that it was not easy to see the president-elect in those days because hundreds of people were wanting to see him or asking him some favors. His residence and the usual places where he went to were always filled with people waiting for an opportunity. My brother told me that he knew a place where we could meet him easily. So, together with some family and few friends, we went to Hotel Elena for an early dinner. Duterte’s usual hangout was the hotel lobby on the second floor and by this time his de facto office was already filled with visitors waiting for him. We chose to have our dinner at the ground floor near the entrance.

When the president-elect arrived, he saw Joey immediately and he lingered awhile bantering with us on any topic we can think of under the sun. He huddled with us for about twenty minutes, posing for pictures, before he went up to meet his visitors for the day. That’s how I met a president in person for the first time. When my friends saw our picture with him posted in Facebook, they thought that I am close to the president and they started making requests for favors that I may discuss with the president when we meet again next time. No, it’s my brother, not me. When my brother’s youngest daughter Cataleya was born, then Mayor Duterte stood up as her godfather.