(Note from MindaNews: This is the official transcript of President Rodrigo Duterte’s speech, released by the Presidential News Desk of the Presidential Communications Office)
Presidential Communications Office
Presidential News Desk
SPEECH
OF
PRESIDENT RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE
DURING THE PAGCOR’S KICK OFF: GAME ON! ALL IN! FOR NATION BUILDING
[Delivered at Manila Hotel | 11 January 2018]
Salamat po. Kindly sit down. Thank you for the courtesy.
Two pages, okay lang? [laughter] Then we — dinner? For an entity earning billions sa pesos for our country and the Office of the President leaves you with a two-page speech.
May I just acknowledge the presence of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and other members of the Cabinet; Representative Gustavo Tambunting, chairperson, Committee on Games and Amusement Board; PAGCOR Chairman Andrea Domingo; PAGCOR President Alfredo Lim; members of the board and executives of PAGCOR; our friends from the business community; ladies and gentlemen.
Everytime I read your name, I’m reminded of the days when I was a prosecutor early on my title was special counsel. And for those who are Chinese dito — do not be offended my grandfather was a Chinese. Kasi Lam ang lolo ko. Kasi tinanong siya na, “ano ‘yung — “ “Ano ‘yung pangalan mo?” Affidavit niya. Sabi niya, “apelyido Lim” Sabi ng piskal, “apelyido, Lim.”
“Iyong kumpletong pangalan mo?” Sabi niya, “Ako sabi iyo, apelyido Lim.” Sabi ni Lianto, if I remember his — ang kilala nila mga abugado ‘yan sa Davao. “Oo, ‘yun ‘yon pero ‘yung kumpleto mong pangalan ano?” Sabi ko na hindi, hindi… “Apelyido, Lim”. Sabi ng abugado, “Ano ‘yan?” “Alfredo Lim.” Eh apelyido surname, apelyido, Lim.
That’s why I… Members of the board of the executive committee of PAGCOR, our friends from the business community, ladies and gentlemen.
I had an audience with the Melco guys I think they were representing the Stanley Ho business and we had a short tête-à-tête just before I came in.
Ang sinabi ko lang sa kanila at ito na lang din ang sabihin ko sa inyo, every government desires for an economic expansion. In the Philippines, we are hitting about 110 million Filipinos. And that is really a nightmare given the economic level of our country today. The income, the GDP.
If you are able to meet the challenges of… There are four, five fundamental duties of government. One is to protect public interest, public health, public order, public safety and the general welfare of the people. Nandiyan na lahat. If you want a nutshell of what a President should do, those are the [inaudible] functions which I have to perform and see to it that it’s complied with.
So itong sa gambling, personally I do not gamble. I do not even go to gambling houses. Sabi ko nga hanggang ngayon hindi pa ako nakapasok diyan sa mga lugar ninyo. Not because I do not like you. I like all of you.
Keep the money coming, no problem. Ang ano ko lang is it’s a matter of official and public pati personal na. I try to avoid those places.
Even in Davao, there’s been there for so many years. I’ve been mayor for 23 years, ni minsan hindi ako nakapasok ng… May mga minsan programs sila mga artista. So I usually beg off because as I said a matter of personal predilection maybe. Ayaw ko talaga.
Ang akin is itong… I can give you the assurance, we welcome you. Pasalamat ako. I thank you for the income that we are earning from the gambling community. Ang akin lang is I want to stress again the point that you can come in, expand, do business peacefully but please avoid graft and corruption whether you are the giver or the receiver.
Alam mo I am not a saint. I have also my faults in life. But corruption is a money has never been really an issue even to myself. I am in the thick of firing people. I intend to fire another maybe 70 or 49 policemen and three generals for corruption.
Iyan ang… In the next few days, I’m — this is really a purging regime. I think that I’ll be spending a lot of time just to clean up government and would consume four years for the time that I would be there. Ayaw ko na lang mag-drama.
Lahat naman tayo ayaw ng corruption, ayaw ng mali. And maski dito sa gambling there are so many allied crimes with it.
Itong pulis, isa ito. Kung hindi mag-abang diyan ng mga kikidnapin, mag-extortion, kung ano-ano na.
Please do not give them the luxury of ‘yung mga extortion, maghingi. All you have to do is just you can call anybody in government, it could be the Secretary, Quitain here, o kay Andrea, Fred Lim. And I will take care of it. Kung may problema ka even in the locals, huwag kang magbigay. Kasi kung magkaalaman tayo, it will just sour up our relationship.
All I have to do is for you to cooperate and I said do not give in to extortionist. Be it the police, the BIR, Customs, kasi ‘pag malaman ko, I’ll make it hard for you.
Kasi pati kayo you are abetting a thing which we are, we have put our hearts into, itong corruption. I am firing another chairman of an entity in government maybe this week and another set of mga policemen. That’s why I said inuna ko sila.
I saved money. During the elections, I promised them that I will double your salary. The reason really is very obvious. Because the police has the power of law enforcement. And you can see so many wrongs on any given day at any given hour. At it will give you the opportunity really to…
Kaya itong mga pulis na ito inuna ko sila pati mga… Well of course, ang Army because the Army they cannot go out of the camp. They do not enforce the law. When they go out of the camp, it’s really just to kill and do a battle with the enemies of the state.
Hindi kagaya ng pulis and they have been — saw ‘yung mga kidnappings. So brazen that the kidnapped people coming out of the gambling houses there and they are into killings or sometimes.
Kaya — ganito ‘yan eh.
When I was mayor of Davao, I was quite desperate of the situation because it was the laboratory place of the NPAs, ‘yung Sparrow.
On any given day, lost mga three, four, five policemen a day.
So when I became mayor in 1988, medyo magkaibigan man kami because of so many, you know, things in common, maybe the social dimensions of each and every one of us, so we could understand each other at that time and I had good relations with them.
Nakita ko kasi na magulo ang syudad ko kaya sabi ko, “I am building a city. Kindly, most kindly, do not destroy it.”
I was spending — putting my life on the line. “And do not destroy our children because I will kill you.” Ayan ang totoo.
So when I became President, ganun rin ako. “I’m trying to build a country. Do not mess up with it because if you continue these things and you’re destroying my country, I’ll simply kill you. And if you continue to propagate shabu, you might lose your funds or your life.”
I’ve never denied that publicly. And assuming it to be wrong, kindly point out to me where is the wrong there? If I kill you trying to destroy my country, can I not?
Or will you still, despite the warnings, and you believe in the crusade of the human rights. They take care of human rights individually. I take care of the nation.
So ‘pag hindi tayo nagkaintindihan diyan… if you do not, still cannot — until now, it’s one year almost sobra, hence. If that does not get into your gray matter between the ears, then I’m sorry for you.
‘yan lang inano ko, pati itong mga pulis. Either you go out of the service and look for a lucrative job, maybe cleaning the garbage there sa basura or… I will not hesitate to… I have fired so many before and I will fire so many of you now and in the future.
Napa-ano lang ako nito kasi wala na akong ibang masabi dito. It’s still graft and corruption.
It has been pulling us down through the years. I don’t know but I think it was mine kasi may nangyari eh and every administration has a component there of corruption and crime.
Hindi ko matanggap ‘yan kasi I made only about four promises, even during the campaign and during the presidential debates.
I had the least of the words to say and I said, “I will stop graft and corruption if I can. Then I’ll put a stop sa menace sa drugs because it is [inaudible] to you. And third is that I will go out and talk to the enemies of the state and I started with the NPAs.”
Well, I… I hate to tell you this but there can never be a coalition government with anybody. The rule here in this country, the Constitution, that if you want to get hold of the sovereign power of the state, if you want to exercise it, you go to the people and get yourself elected. That is the rule.
Sovereignty cannot just be shared by anybody without the mandate of the people.
Supreme Court is doing its thing; Congress is functioning, exercising sovereign powers; and the Presidency. And it’s limited to all those in government who are appointed or elected.
It cannot be shared by a group of persons pretending to be a force and trying to put us in a corner and demanding everything, including the powers of the state.
I cannot give it to them and I said, “We were friends before. If you hate me now, let it be.”
Because noon, mayor lang ako and the sovereign rights that I exercise was just a very limited one with a limited area and power.
But it did not extend to the — the final decision of a — that’s something which has… so we have cut the talks now. I don’t know if it would still be or can be revived.
But we continue to talk to the MI and to the MN. They’re helping us out but very— just be very aware of your surroundings because we are facing terrorism.
We are not the only one suffering from it. Everybody in the world nowadays suffers the hostile attitude of a group of persons pretending to be a believer of Islam and yet, killing people, destroying properties for no reason at all.
It is a corrupt and empty. It is not a religion. It is an ideology of destruction and death.
So dito, wala tayong — there can never be even a minute of talks there. I will never talk to terrorists, criminals. Maybe revolutionaries na talagang legit in Mindanao now but terrorism is out of the question.
So back again, kailangan namin ng pera because I have to sustain the campaign against the ISIS, which are trying to gain a foothold somewhere and this will not disappear, not for the Philippines, not for Japan or China, not for Malaysia, Indonesia, not even for America and the rest of the world.
This will go on and on and to my simple mind, I’d give it about — it would be existing and a very virulent one for, maybe, give or take, three to seven years unless we have… unless we can destroy really.
It’s an idea, which has to be destroyed just like the communists. That is why we are fighting the NPAs again and I have told the military to adopt the “no quarters given, no quarters asked.”
Whatever that means to the individual soldier or policeman, those are very simple words. Wala tayong bigayan dito.
In the same manner, sa corruption, I cannot really — do not even talk to me about it.
Hindi naman sa ayaw ko. But ayaw ko nga maki — ‘yung punta-punta ng Malacañang to talk about. You just go to Dominguez and everybody there.
But ito ang assurance ko sa inyo: From government workers, don’t consider them officials, they are just workers of government.
Kaming mga workers sa gobyerno, we are here to serve the people. And if you have a problem, corruption, whatever, just kindly give me a call if it’s a serious one and I’ll give you an audience right away.
Sabihin mo lang, “May problema ako dito kasi hinihingian ako, ganito,” And itong mga, and the locals, it’s always the conversion thing and the permit.
If your permit goes beyond three days on any table there, just call me and I will get it for you for free.
Kung meron kang problema dito sa department na ito, tawagan mo lang ako. Call me. And I will go to the department concerned, with you together, I will get the papers for you.
Whether it is approved or not, I will give it to you. Walang — That’s why there’s an 888[8]. But if you want a faster lane, then call anybody in government. Kilala naman ninyo si Bingbong, kilala niyo si… O kilala ninyo si [Mr. Razon?] Kilala ninyo si [Lan?], Dennis Uy. Call them.
And I will do it, I said, for you for free. That statement binds all, even the locals. Kasi ditong sa ano, government ‘pag — on my Executive department, sa mga Cabinet members, may power is supervision and control.
Meaning to say that I supervise them and I can modify, amend anything that a Cabinet secretary would decide on. But dito sa locals, because they are elected, we are only given the powers of supervision.
But then, let me remind you that we do not flaunt the lofty positions of being a governor or mayor. I was a mayor for so many years.
We are simply workers of government. Bayad na kami. And ang mga pulis doblado na. Kindly stop because if you cannot — ‘yan ang problema eh.
When you try to begin to worry about things which you cannot afford, and you begin to dream of acquiring so much when your pocket is almost empty, that is the time that you’re…
Or ang pulis — Ito nakikinig man kayong lahat. Baka ‘yang dagdag sweldo ninyo, mapunta lang ‘yan sa girlfriend ninyo.
Mabuti’t alam ng asawa ninyo, kunin ninyo lahat. Ito na lang ang sabihin ko sa inyo mga pulis. ‘Pag ang asawa ninyo nag-complain o nagsumbong na ganito, hindi mo binibigay ang sweldo mo, kung hindi doon sa kabit mo p*****…
I will just direct the PNP to give the money to the wife. Ikaw maglakad ka. Wala kang pamasahe [inaudible].
Alam mo ‘yang sa probinsya, ganun ‘yan. ‘Pag kolekta ng konduktor, ganun na ‘yan. Ibig sabihin, badge. Badge, ‘yung libre.
Okay ‘yan. When I appreciate if you… if the companies would do that. ‘Di, talagang hirap rin ang pulis eh.
One time nga kumain ng durian tapos ayaw magbayad. The following morning there was a ruckus and I just told them, “Let them eat, and I will pay.”
Maawa pa rin ako kasi kulang talaga ang — And they are there pagdating ko ng ano via chopper. Because if I don’t ride the chopper, the helicopter, I could not be here on time with you.
So I have to do it because I have so many things to honor for a day. And if I travel, wala na, hanggang diyan lang ako.
So I have to take the — And that is the only luxury and only because I do not want to inconvenience people. Kasi linisin ‘yang daan. Thirty minutes or one hour before i-divert na kayo.
I do not want that. Sabi ko, “Workers lang kami ng gobyerno. Why should we add to the discomfort and inconvenience of the people?”
‘Yan lang ang akin. Huwag ninyo kaming tingnan as ano. We are workers of government and we are ready really to do our part.
Corruption. Help us. Maski piso, help us. ‘Pag maghingi, ‘yan ‘yang, ‘yang sa ano, nakalibot ‘yang — One of these days, mag-iikot rin ako diyan.
Nandiyan lahat ‘yung mga vultures waiting for sinong nanalo, balato, sinong ma-kidnap.
Well, ‘pag magka — If we find ourselves meeting in one corner then I’m sorry. Hanggang diyan lang ang…
But for policemen and soldiers who are prosecuted or facing charges in court, in the performance of duty or duty-connected, sabihin ko na sa inyo, I will protect them.
If it’s done it good faith, in the performance of a duty, diyan ninyo maasahan. And that is how I protect those who are honest and who are hardworking. But I hit hard those who are corrupt and should not be there in the police work.
‘Yan ang gusto kong maintindihan nila at sa inyo. So I would be very happy if you cooperate with us. Ang hinihingi ko ‘yun lang naman. Wala naman akong hiningi. Ni kape minsan, hindi ako nagpunta sa mga — Because I said, I do not want it. But just the same, the only thing is that if there’s a wrongdoing, kindly report it to us.
You have so many lines. [inaudible] kilala ko kayo dito lahat. Halos. Tawagan mo lang ako at sabihin mo, “Hinihinigian kami dito.”
Even doon sa locals and provinces. I do not know what developments are there outside that you are into. But if you are again faced with the same problem, let me know. And I will solve it.
‘Yun lang. Bayaran mo lang ako chewing gum kasi it eases up the pain when I’m chewing. Nawawala ‘yung spinal ano ko. It eases a bit.
So for that, so much for my sloganeering, if it is true. I welcome you. But I have this serious talk with Andrea. And at this time, we go slow in extending another area.
Huwag na muna. Ang gusto ko mag — When you have reached the mega status baka magdagdag tayo. But there’s enough gamblers to sustain you, you’re being millionaires.
But if you are a mega-billionaire already, then we might — Ibig sabihin marami ng sugarol. So ako, hindi ako sugarol, nagtatrabaho lang ako. And let me know what I can do for you.
You are paying me to do exactly what I’m telling you now.
Maraming salamat po.
— END —