DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/27 December) — Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said the latest survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) where he only ranked fourth didn’t bother him.
“I do not lose sleep because of surveys. I do not die if I do not become president of this country. I have served my government for 40 years and I think that’s good enough,” said the standard bearer of the Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino (PDP-Laban) during his Sunday program “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa.”
Based on the poll results released last week, Duterte only scored 20 percentage points, tailing Liberal Party’s Manuel “Mar” Roxas II who got 22 percentage points to place 3rd.
Senator Grace Poe and Vice president Jejomar Binay were statistically tied with 24 percent and 26 percent, respectively, while Senator Miriam Santiago placed 5th with 4 percent.
The survey was conducted from December 12 to 14.
“Mamili kayo sa apat. I’m not affected by the survey,” Duterte said.
Duterte said he is “okay” to have served the government for 40 years by 2016, adding, “Whether I like it or not, I’m already in my sunset years.”
“Time is running out for me so kanang presidency, problem to me internally, dili na ko ganahan magtrabaho og mamalikas, og dili na ko ganahan mopatay (that presidency is a problem to me internally, I no longer want to work and curse, and I do not want to kill anymore),” he said.
Duterte served as government prosecutor for 10 years before he was named OIC Vice Mayor in 1986, mayor from 1988 to 1998, representative of the city’s first district from 1998 to 2001, mayor again from 2001 to 2010, and vice mayor from 2010 to 2013.
In 2013, Duterte was elected as mayor with son Paolo Duterte as vice mayor.
The mayor, who is turning 70 in March, said: “You do not look at your ambition when you reach this age because physically you know you can only do so much. At this age, you should have already known your ambition and be clear about what you want in life.” (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)