Presidential aspirant and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte chants “Mabuhay ang Moro people!” before entering his vehicle after his campaign rally in Cotabato City on Saturday. Majority of the Bangsamoros in the event expressed support for Duterte for his clear stance on resolving the Mindanao conflict.(MNS photo)
DAGUPAN CITY (Mabuhay) – “Where (are) the billions of “Yolanda” funds?
Presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has asked his rival former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, saying the administration is mum on how they spent the Yolanda funds.
Roxas was the interior secretary when supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) devastated Visayas.
“They are silent about it. Gusto ko tanungin si Mar. Billion ang dumating sa bansa nung Yolanda, saan ang pera (I would like to ask Mar. Where are the billions of funds intended for “Yolanda” victims?)” Duterte said during a speech at the Lyceum Northwestern University here on Wednesday afternoon.
Duterte cited how rehabilitation in Leyte showed the failure of the government despite billions of funds and donations that the country received during the aftermath of the supertyphoon.
“Ngayon ang tanong ko, tingnan mo naman sa Leyte, puro… matamaan ng ay hindi lang typhoon kundi ‘typhoonet,’ wala na sira na,” he said.
(Look at Leyte, if it would be hit not only by a typhoon but by a typhoonet as well, it would be in complete destruction.)
“Typhoonet” was Duterte’s term for a weak typhoon.
The tough-talking mayor slammed how the government failed to have proper accounting of the funds.
“Where are the billions of money? Saan ang pera ng Yolanda? Masagot niya yan sana maging presidente (siya). Pero hanggang ngayon walang accounting,” he said, receiving a wild approval from the crowd inside a packed university gym.
(Where are the billions of money? Where are the funds for Yolanda (victims)? If he could answer that, may he become the next president but until now, there is no accounting (of the funds) yet.)
The mayor also hit the government’s “Daang Matuwid” or straight path of governance.
“Saan ka maghanap ng ‘Daang Matuwid?’ Nagsakay ng motor, isang metro lang ang tinakbo, dahil kulubot ung daan, natumba. Hindi mo kayang magmotor, para sa akin hindi ka lalaki. Kung hindi mo kaya si Yolanda, ay hindi ka lalaki,” he said.
(Where will you find the Straight Path? If you ride on a motorcycle, you will fall down within one meter because the road is not properly paved. If you don’t know how to ride on a motorcycle, I think you are not a real man. If you can’t handle “Yolanda” well, you are not a real man.)
Duterte, who served as Davao City mayor for more than 22 years, vowed a corrupt-free government if elected president in the upcoming elections in May.
“Maawa ang Diyos (In God’s mercy), I will guarantee you it will be a clean government. No corruption,” he said. (MNS)