Those who are young and beautiful, you come up here and sit beside your brother, (laughter/applause) so that you will be protected.

I was on my way from the Banana Growers, tumawag si Andanar and ask me if I could just give about three sentences about what I have—what I intend to do.

Yung isang gabi, tinanong niya ako, “how would you rate yourself?” I said, “6 in a scale of 10.” And the following day, I read in the papers that I was hitting 74, 2 point shorter than President Ramos when he became the president. Alam mo, sabi ko, “I do not—I’m not into ratings.” Wala talaga ako—everybody, lahat ng taga-Davao na kilala ako, I tend not really to derogate myself but to just make it as—not really as humble as it should be but, hindi kasi ako mahilig diyan magyabang and even until now, I just give the order for all throughout the country to not to put up posters on my face.

Even dito sa Davao, hindi talaga nangyari ‘yan, even during election time. I do not—‘yung mga project, akin ito, akin yan, no such thing in Davao. And no display of whether you find me handsome or ugly, (laughter) I just don’t want my face posted there, everywhere.

I keep low. Well, it’s in me na medyo mahiyain, and of course, the niceties of governance. Ano, isang halimbawa, just to say, ‘ulol itong Pilipino,’ I see it everywhere. Put it there “honorable,” I erased the word ‘Excellency.’ Masyadong mataas ‘yan para sa akin.

I told the Cabinet that for a democratic state, the word ‘Excellency’ is too sumptuous. Just use ‘President.’ And even in close friends, sinasabi ko, “you address me as “Mayor.” Because I had been used to the word since I was Mayor here for 23 years, and araw-araw yan for 23 years, even my daughter—si Sara, when she talks of me sa third party, when I was just the mayor, she does not address me as ‘Papa,’ only when we are—yung harap-harapan.

So sabi ko, I rate myself at 6, yun pala 74 and what does that mean? It means that for the next few years, we move on.

The drug campaign will not end. It will result still in so many deaths and I do not apologize for it. One thing is sure, is that I’ve been telling the law enforcement agencies, the police and the military because they are into it also. I said, if the guy is to be arrested, you just announce your authority and if he resists arrest and puts up a violent resistance, kill him.

That has been, and I will not renege on that. There shall be no reduction either in substance or in form. Ayaw ko talaga ang droga because if I do not interdict it now, I am not into a hubris mode but looking at the politicians in the horizon, if I go out suddenly, then alam ko na mahirapan ang Pilipinas. Mahirapan ang Pilipinas kasi I do not think that they would have the stomach for these kind of things. May mag-order sa … “patayin mo ‘yan.”

Ginagawa ko ‘yan because I know from where I stand, sabi ko, I repeat, if I do not interdict the problem now magkakaroon tayo ng problema, generational, for the next generation. Kawawa ‘yung mga anak ninyo ngayon, nasa—‘yung mga apo ko, malalaki na ‘yung anak ko eh. At ‘yung may grade school ngayon, delikado talaga kayo, delikado kayo. So somebody has to do it for the Filipino. Wel, it’s a matter of maybe destiny.

Maybe God placed you there to, precisely, to do the things that must be done to help the Filipino. At ako naman ho, I just read it from a—overseas-based opinion writer about me being ousted by people power. Be my guest. I don’t give a shit.

You know, I became mayor contrary to what was my expectations in life when I was young. In my days—of my youth, I never expected to be mayor but though I know that I’ll be a lawyer but all I wanted and it is a history here in Davao City. If you ask them, that all I wanted was a promotion from a prosecutor to be a judge. Kasi ang sweldo ng judge could finance really a son or daughter to study in Manila. Alam ko, gusto ng mga anak ko ‘yan.

Inday, for one, wanted to take up law sa—my school. So ang sweldo kasi ng ano, fiscal, kung medyo diyan ka lang, could hardly cope up with the expenses of two or more children in Manila, so only have one. Ang akin naman, itong—yung vice mayor, you should have invited him to teach about business. Hindi masyadong ano, so nagtanan pa tuloy, so it was Inday. So suddenly, she was there, kumuha ng law.

Itong vice mayor, ewan ko kung anong natapos niyan, Home Economics or Hotel—HRM. Ganyan yan.

So yun lang yan ang gusto ko. Lahat na—itong expectations, what evolved in my life were the very opposite of the things which I really was looking at into my future. So it’s a matter of destiny.

So I would say that I became mayor because of destiny. I became a vice mayor because of destiny. I became a congressman because of my destiny. It was not in my actuarial computation sa buhay ko.

Ngayon, nandito ako. I have this sacred duty to take care of my country and people. Ke mamatay ako, sabi ko, I’ve said this several times: I’m putting at stake on the table: my honor, my life and even the presidency.

These things, it does not mean to me at all. Basta ako, magtrabaho lang. If I am there for one year only, then so be it. It is already written in my destiny that mag-President ka for one year. If I am ousted, then it is also written in the winds that I’d be there and I’ll be ousted. And if I die, the more reason that it’s really a part of your territory, of your life in this world. So it doesn’t really bothered me at all.

Pag sinabi kong gawin ko, gawin ko ‘yan. I did not look back when I started. Maraming patay, problema mo ‘yan, ginusto mo, ginusto ko rin. Kung anong aabutin natin sa buhay na ito, ‘di hanggang diyan lang tayo. ‘Yung lahat diyan namatay, you think of me and, we’re almost the same. That is your destiny to die, to go into drugs, you hurt people, you destroy the generation.

Mahirap—drugs. It starts not even sa actual taking. It starts with the family. ‘Yung may kilala man kayo dito, rich or poor, what would be the immediate impact? The immediate impact is you have a dysfunctional family. Maghiwalay ang asawa, magkagastos-gastos ng—sa rehab, almost spending 4 million, 5 million and you know very well that one day, they would slide back into—

Kasi sabi nga, Amerikano nga ang nagsabi: six months to one year, sige shabu-shabu ka araw-araw, it will shrink your brain. And if the brain is shrunk, then rehab is no longer viable. So now we’ll have hit the three million mark. I really do not have an accurate count of how much or how many of them have shrunk brains. But we have a problem, that is an enormous number and you should not take it lightly because this three million, plus the 7 that surrendered during my time would place it, we are still receiving surrenderees and by the end of the year, I expect to—to the number to breach the one million mark.

I remember that I talked to Widodo sa Laos and we’re friends. And I said, “adre, ilan ang sa iyo?” Estimate niya four million and I played with my—I did some comparison.

Indonesia is a big country, about two, three great islands there and the populists is almost 240 million. Mine is small country, archipelago, a long coastline kasi paikut-ikot ka diyan sa island. And I have one million four and I am a very small country. Now, the three million computation was done by Santiago, General Santiago during his time. I was not yet President then, I was mayor and I knew the seriousness insofar as my dimensional, you know, kung saan ako papasok. And I was very strict here because I know it was dangerous, talamak. And then I knew na pag hindi ko talaga hiritan ito, masisira ang aking siyudad. I was only concerned with my city but at that time, I warned everybody that if you are a drug pusher or a syndicate and you’re operating here and the apparatus and all the pusher—you better get out.

‘Yung mga kidnappers for ransom or whatever, kasi pag hindi, papatayin ko kayo. At ginawa ko talaga. I have no problem about it, many lost there lives.

Ngayon, when I’m President, ganun rin sinabi ko: “Do not do it.” Remember? When I was on a platform of only three big major issues. Sabi ko, “I have to stop corruption in government or else we go nowhere, maniwala kayo. Pag hindi kayo tumulong sa akin,” then I said, “I would stop drugs if possible and suppress crime.”

‘Yung kidnap for ransom na marami ‘yan sa Maynila, almost—latest count was 49 Chinese guys kidnapped, never to be returned again despite the payment of ransom.

Ito ‘yung mga, talagang hindi kita mapalusot. Dito sa Davao, magprangka ako, nandiyan ‘yung media o. Magrape ka ng bata, patayin mo dito. 18 months old, putang-ina, patay ka talaga. Hindi kita paabutin ng presinto, i-intercept kita somewhere. Hindi ako pwede ng ganun eh.

So when I became President, only milder but I was very specific. I said, “I will place it as a national security issue, invite the military to come in, so that was the only time, then declared the state of lawlessness.”

That would justify the military to—at sinabi ko, very specific, “go out and arrest them and if they do not surrender or would be willing to place themself under the control and custody of the law, law enforcement and you put up a resistance, patayin niyo.” “If you feel that your life is in danger, kill them.” And as of today, I lose on the average, two policemen a day. If it is an extra ju—extra ordinary, judicial extraordinary or judicial o, how come, I am having casualties in my hand, too?

‘Yan ang mahirap, then comes—bago tayo diyan sa business, para rin maintindihan ninyo because it could affect you somehow in the days to come. But I will do some corrective measures. I was—that was a garbage started here pero although there were much really to be concerned of because marami talagang mamatay dito.

But Davao, you can go anywhere except for the bombing, which is being done on a regular basis all over Mindanao. And because of the fighting in Sulu, nagalit ako noong katapusan kasi pati bata, kinidnap nila, pinutulan nila ng ulo. What’s the fucking thing about what you’re doing to your—

Ganito ‘yan. I started even before I took my oath of office, I talked to the communists, they agreed before my oath taking, we will talk so we are freed now of the fight against the NPAs.

As a matter, I have some extra soldiers to spare for other places. Then I started to talk to the MI, pumayag si Murad pati si Jafaar. They are the moderates actually sa MI. Then I talked to Misuari. Next week, he’s going to come out from his lair, his den there in Sulu and I will have him escorted sa Davao and we will talk.

And there is—para maintindihan kasi, there is a certain dito sa Mindanao sector na hindi ko talaga puwedeng—despite the fact that after the election, I sent my daughter-in-law, who’s father is a Tausug and whose mother is Maranao just like my lola. Sent her to gather a few men, ‘a few scholars, ‘yung mga talagang ang ano sa Jolo pati dito sa, ‘yung religious scholars. Marami dito ‘yung, kita mo ‘yung puti na naka-sultana ng puti tapos ano, these are what you would call Tabligh. If I may compare them sa relihiyon natin, it’s a—parang Knights of Columbus sa Catholic. Ayan. So sabi ko, what’s wrong? Then they started to rattle off so many by things but I remember there was an ANC interview of Tatad, si Lozano at si—marami sila, ‘yung mga matatanda na nagmamakarunong. And they said that Duterte is dwelling on the past, that was a 100 years ago. Actually, that—hindi galing sa akin ‘yan. Galing ‘yan doon sa mga tao—scholars na kinausap ko dito before I was sworn in.

Sabi ko, “Why can’t you participate with Nur and MI, MN so that we can just talk about peace in Mindanao?” Sabi nila, “Mayor, we will talk to you, but we will never, never negotiate peace with you.” “So what’s the reason? What’s bugging you?” “Because of what happened to us.”

Sila ‘yung nag-produce ng pictures, it did not tag from me. ‘Yung pictures, the Filipinos at that time have no Polaroids, then ni wala namang instant, we got it from the archives of the US Congress. ‘Yung mga picture ng mga, mga Moro na dumped on a one hole and there was—ginamit pa ng mga ano ‘yan ah, postage, may postage ang picture. Ang Amerikano na sundalo nakaganun ‘yung paa niya sa dibdib ng babae, piled of bodies there.

Then they showed me the picture and they gave me some. They showed me the originals ‘yung nakuha nila, ayan o. So this cannot be a thing of the past, it will always be present in our humanity.

And so we will not talk about this for as long as there are soldiers who are here in Mindanao. You see them in the military camps and I think, there are about 119 of them here. Because you are still fighting us, the Americans still fighting us through your government forces. Because you are the continuation of the Americans and the Americans, a continuation of the Spaniards.

There was this Philippine- American-Spanish war, they lost. So the Philippines, as one of the territories considered by the Spaniards, America, kasali ang Guam, kaya nga, mga pangalan sa Guam, puro Spaniards. Pareho sa atin. Yung mga Guamenio, Because they were first conquered by the Spaniards and they had to give it up because they lost the war against America.

One of them was Dewey, Dewey was the one who smashed the Spanish Armada, ‘yung galleons nila na, mga warships. So ayaw talaga nila. These are really the bets on the table.

Now, I was talking to the banana growers. We’re good except that if we do not talk about peace and realize it really as a matter of—you will be always, be paying the revolutionary taxes. And let alone the extortion activities of the bandits here all around, there are so much of them.

I can kill them all, eh ubusin mo langyung isang barangay, isang araw, ‘di tapos ka na. But that doesn’t win that one for us, it will just exacerbate. We just have to play and the only reason why I can reach out to the Muslims is because of my grandmother. My grandfather is a Cebuano and if anybody asks me, ano ka? I always tell them Cebuano because we trace our lineage from our father. Then sa nanay but ang lolo ko sa mother side ko, Chinese. Ang lola ko, Maranao.

That’s why, I can talk to them, I can go around talking to them but hanggang diyan lang. It cannot go deeper than just being—signing an armistice of what happened in the previous —

Ang lamentation ko diyan sa America is they have falling short despite of their clever boys there, Pentagon State Department. Until now, they have not realized that reality, na marami talagang galit sa kanila. At ako pa ang inuna nila.

You know, I was—Davao City was already—I was the whipping boy of De Lima and company. Totoo naman eh, di ba sinabi ko, sabi ko noon, talagang pina—totoo ‘yan, but you know, they continued to chastise me.

When I was mayor, it was good. Why? Eh mayor lang ako eh and they can hit me on the side. But to make a broad side of criticism when I’m already President is another thing kasi Presidente na ako and we are a member of the United Nations. Titirahin ako ng isang spokesman na ulol, son of a bitch, dito sa taga-Human Rights and then followed by a lady from the State Department, and followed by Obama, and of late, itong EU lawyers.

Sabi ko, you are all stupid and fools. Why? Member na tayo ng United Nations, I am the sovereign head of state. If you want to hit me, bring it to the forum of the United Nations. I am not the state of Tennessee; I am not the state of Alaska. Do not do that to me. You bring the issue there, then talk about it in this National—in this Security Council or any body, who would want to sponsor, then you ask your one—of your organization, World Health Organization, the Human Rights Commission, WTO or whatever, but do not hit me directly because you put to shame the Filipinos outside. ‘Killer pala ‘yan, inuubos ninyo.’

And for that Commission to bring out the report, then let me respond officially. Do not hit me directly because that is not loud. I would like to remind, you know Obama is a lawyer. I’m sure he studied International Law. I did, nobody knows it but I was a Foreign Service graduate also because I wanted to work outside only to be discouraged by my father. Sabi niya, “What will you do there? Why will you work in another country? Why don’t you just—” it was the reason why.

So alam ko, sabi ko Obama have studied International Law. I am sure of that and I did. And he knows that you cannot do it. So why are you doing it? My God!

Kaya hindi ako makasagot because it was—remember that it was not an issue against me during the last election. You will agree with me. But when I was hitting 32, 33, 34 – lumabas na ‘yung mga basura na pera and salvaging.

Mayayaman man kayong lahat. I know you have access to the managers. It’s just a matter of computer. Sige, pindutin ‘yan, tignan ninyo ang accounts ko. It was really 18,000 and 5,000, that was the account when I was a congressman. Nung nauwi na ako dito, I did bother with that account kasi kung mag-alis ako, papabili lang naman ako dito ng dolyar and besides, I use the—meron namang credit card, bakit naman—yan ang totoo so, that is—kasi baka they will start to—you know, you might be in the export business ano.

Ang ayaw ko dito sa mga putang-inang ‘to, kasi bastos eh. You do that, you behave that and they said, they will stop the aids—your aid assistance. Hoy, mga ulol, you get your assistance, give it to the Somalians and they—they need it more sa mga refugee diyan na, who are dying there.

You know, British is a hydra—itong European na dalawa ang mukha nitong mga gagong ‘to. At first, they opened the borders and let them in and throw in droves. Now, suddenly they realized they are now flooded with migrants or immigrants for that matter, they closed it and some of those poor guys out there, it’s December and it’s—the winter is about set in.

‘Yun yung mga hypocrisy. You know, Middle East was invaded by Germany, Italy, Great Britain, America. And it was they who divided the countries according to the tribes. Iraq, Iran and so on and so forth, Egypt.

Pagkatapos, they do not like strong men, no elections so and so, but they do not realize until now that—take it from me, ang Muslim world is governed by the Qur’an and the Qur’an is fundamentally feudal. It is not by election but by the tribes noon. Yung mga—it was 3,000 years ago, pati ‘yang Bible natin, it’s 3,000 years ago.

Ano ba ang pakialam ko kung saan si Moses nagbaba ng bukid o sa Mayon o sa Mount Apo? (laughter) But they think it is antique—antiquated and should be changed, hindi mo pwedeng—

Look at Iraq. On a pretext of mass destruction, weapons. Wala naman talaga doon pala. So what happened to Iraq? It’s in shambles. They undermined Libya, Libya is a failed state. Now, they’re eating up Syria and you see the—alam ko, nanuod kayo ng CNN. Look at people there dying. And yet, they have just to—because itong Left, sinakyan. ‘Hindi no, no, not the Left, rather the yellow rode on the issue, and they like to see their opponent pictured as a—that will not deter me, mind you, whether I sink or go up, it will continue until the last pusher is out of the streets. (applause)

What are the consequences that you are threatening me? I’ll be ousted? Fine. It will be part of my destiny. Hindi ko ma-presidente kundi sa inyo. But destiny carries with it so many things. Hanggang diyan lang ako. If I die, that’s part of my destiny. Presidents gets assassinated. That would be my—that is the—so, I was with—the day I was elected, preparado na ako, that I could die, I would lose honor. I, I do not think I’d lose anything that has to do with honor. Hindi ho ako magnanakaw and I don’t get paid by the thousands if I kill one drug lord. I lose the Presidency? Okay. Kasi yan ang tinatakot. Hindi ako matakot ng ganun because if it happens, I would accept it as part of my destiny.

Hindi ako matakot. Hindi ako kagaya ng hangol na mamamatay ako kung kunan mo ako ng laruan ng presidente, or I said, in my childhood days, being President or being mayor was not really part of my dreams. Yan ang totoo diyan, so hindi niyo ako pwedeng matakot ng ganun.

Ang gusto ko lang talaga noon kasi mahilig ako magligaw ng magagandang babae (laughter). Ang magagandang babae, wala namang hilig sa akin, ‘di—but for those few who had a misstep—kung ganito lang, ganito.

So now, baka magkaanuhan ito, ‘yung Small Negosyo. I would see that after a visit sa China, things would improve a lot. Maybe or maybe not, I would have enough money to play around to fund things like “Go Negosyo”, make it more— (applause). Ang tanong sa China is this, do you know that in Fort Magsaysay, again, I’ll tell you, hindi ko nga alam eh. They’re about to complete the dormitory of—building dormitories rather that would housed 1,500 rehab—mga adik diyan sa kampo ng Fort Magsaysay. Ginawa ng mga Chinese, hindi ko nga alam.

I just gave the go signal, just ordered the military guys to open up the gates and let them in. So I expect more of those kinds of things to be constructed all over. Nahirapan tayo, kasi itong Amerikano pati si Obama, Human Rights, pati itong mga bright boys sa Europe, kaya sabi ko, I wrote them a letter. Tapos na ha? I invited the Human Rights, Obama, the State Department and the EU: Come here, investigate me. Hali-halika dito. Halikayo, … but in return, allow me also to ask you questions, sabi ko, para tabla. I mean, you cannot have your cake, pin me down and eat it, too. O ano kayo sinisuwerte kayo mga buang. (laughter)

You think, you are brighter than me, ah yan ang problema. Akala siguro niyo, puti kayo, Eh, ‘di dito kayo sa akin. Sabi nila, first round pa lang. I murdered 1,800 or—700? Ngayon, I’ll just tell them, who was my tenth victim? What was his name? Where did I kill him? For what and how? Hindi ka makasagot, sige putang-ina, umuwi ka na, animal ka, sipain kita diyan eh. (laughter) Huwag mo akong bullshit-in. Hindi mangyaring mas bright sila sa akin. Maniwala kayo. Ako ganito-ganito lang ako, 70.

I said, I assembled men of—mga ano ito, mga cum laude ito. Tugade was a, (applause) Mon was I think, cum laude ka man, ‘no? Tugade was a valedictorian. Magna yan, cum laude. Vit Aguirre, mga classmate ko yan. Basta ‘yan ang mga kilala ko. Si Dulay was a very—mahusay yan, he’s an honest man. Bebot Bello, medyo kasama ko sa inuman yan, kaya (laughter) tabla lang ang grado namin. (laughter)

But all others, Sonny Dominguez, the owner of this hotel. We are neighbors, same subdivision, kababata ko talaga ito. Ay oo, grade one kami, valedictorian na ‘to. Nag-graduate yan kung saan-saan and studied in UCLA. Wala yan, mahusay yan. Top yan pero ngayon trabahante ko lang sila lahat (laughter/applause). Ako 75 lang. ‘Yung how do you rate yourself? Six, 74 mataas na yun. Ako noon, dahan-dahan lang ako, kasi ito sila, mga apurado. (laughter) Ako naman sa eskuwela, I fini—Sonny was well ahead. Nakatapos na yan ng masteral course niya pag-uwi. Medyo kakatapos ko lang sa AB noon.

Wala, seven years ako sa high school eh. That’s why, I’m brighter kasi mas matagal ang pundasyon. Sa College of Law, ang investment namin diyan, yung sa Legarda pati itong Legarda-Mendiola, diyan sa kanto. “Ice cold beer, chilled!” Oh yan ano, sige basa libro, o wala sa library, diyan lang, may jukebox pa, McArthur’s Park. (applause)

Kaya yang, walang ibang tao dito sa Davao, kakanta na ko ng McArthur’s Park, ako lang. Totoo, ako lang. ‘Yung talagang kanta. (applause)

So let’s talk back to business. Shut up, guys. So the thing is: I entered the Presidency midstream. It’s I said, it’s a budget operated by me but prepared the previous year by Aquino and implemented now, but half of the year, kanya; half of the year, akin—June. Eh sino ba naman ang—sabi nila, bakit pinapatay ni Duterte ‘yan? Bakit ayaw niya ilibing na o kaya ayaw niyang i-rehab? Where do I get the money?

Like any other—your companies, you operate on a budget yearly. Kung walang—I cannot get the money from the Department of Foreign Affairs, from Labor, from DICT, from Education and get it to put up rehab. That would be robbing Peter to pay Paul. That’s somebody else’s money. Wala man ako, kasi ang naiwan sa akin, MOOE. Alam nila yan. Wala na akong capital outlay. No more. so kaya ipit ako. And yet when they criticize, Obama when he criticized me, knew that I was a midterm president and alam niya, wala akong pera.

May gobyerno siya, alam niya yan. If it is not in the budget, I could not get it from somebody else’s pocket. Wala eh. Now next year, which is being prepared now, we have this money to deal with the drug problems. One thing is—what’s— bears really, watching is how China would respond to the challenges of our needs? Sabi niya, “bigyan ka namin nito.” Well, if I get some loans, I will give you some. Kung bigyan niya ako ng—I don’t know but he promised an amount, okay na sa akin yan. So I can deal, ang una talaga is, of course, it would be education. Additional funding for education, then yung rehabilitation, then agriculture, and maybe, yung itong micro and small industries para doon sa mga matulungan.

Maybe, just maybe, kung gamitin talaga ang pera sa— makinig kayong mabuti then you learn from the learned, then maybe something will come out of it. Noon kasi, ‘yung ano, naging presidente ako, we received 2 million; 1 million when Cory won, she made it 2 million; contribution ng PAGCOR sa Davao. So sabi niya, give it to the poorest of the poor. Eh madali sa akin ‘yan, kasi galing ako diyan. So I would know, sinong bigyan. Walang nakabayad. Come election time, itong kalaban ko sa pulitika, ‘yung garbage diyan—extrajudicial killing, yung tiga-report na ano, and so, I was investigated. Sabi ko, look guys, if you are asking me kung saan, I gave it to them, merong photograph, everything because I used to be a prosecuting— eh trial lawyer ako ng gobyerno eh, prosecutor ako noon. I was also at the same time, taken in by Gonzales noon, wala pa yang Ombudsman. It used to be known as the Special office of the Special Prosecutor at Tanod Bayan. So I was one of those who were prosecuting graft and corruption. That’s why, kaya kong—mahusay akong mag-present ng evidence from the time it is audited, ganun, step by step. Up to the time, yung malversation occurs, mahilig ako diyan, kaya—so madali akong matuto, but anyway, may nagsesenyas na kasi. I still have another, so I will cut it short.

Ganito na lang, if I get to have additional money, outside of government sources, you’ll have a part of it, ‘yung sa ano. (applause) But the thing is you have to get it from me personally, and if you are, kung maganda ka, double the amount. Pero just as—kagaya ng ordinaryo na magandang Pilipina, ah siguro—depende na rin kung—‘yan ang— If I get those things that I expect, I’m not so much into expectations, but I will look for the money. And if I get some, I said, you’ll have a part of it. Otherwise, we wait for next year and still.

Alam mo, ano—malapit sa akin ‘yang—ayokong magpa-drama pero anak lang rin ho ako ng mahirap. Ang punta pa namin dito, 1948, Davao was still, but you know what? Yung Land of Promise is really not true. Those were the sloganeering of the Americans because they really wanted Mindanao badly, walang typhoon dito eh, so everything moved naturally. Except that they could not get workers here because Moro na lahat. So they have to keep up the sloganeering, “Go to Mindanao because it is the Land of Promise.”

My father was one of those—bata pa pumunta siya but he married a Mindanaoan. Even when we—from Iligan, Iligan is just beside Marawi to Davao, pagdating namin dito, wala na. And even the wetlands behind Ateneo de Davao just in front. In front of this hotel is the Ateneo de Davao. At the back was still a wet land. Would you believe it, it was already titled in the name of just so few.

Ang karamihan dito sa Mindanao, they got 1,000, you know the advent of Land Reform, 1,000 hectares, 500 yan. Those were the Americans who never went to back to America. And the—yung mga Spaniards, ang tawag nila, ‘Insulares.’ ‘Yung nandito na nag-settle dito, ‘yung mga anak nila. ‘Yun ang tawag na Insulares, kaming mga tipo, wala, wala talaga.

We had the house there—in the—beside the—kila Domiguez, because just—tatay ko, lawyering. Kaya I know, hindi mo ako maano sa akin nun. I’m the only politician thereabout who can really fathom.

Bantayan niyo ako maglabas, bantayan ninyo akong maglabas. I do not—galit nga ako dito sa PCSG because sanay yan sila mag-embrace sa akin, everybody dito sa Davao, sanay sa akin. Remember that I was a mayor for 23 years. I never lost an election until I became President. Hindi talaga ako natalo, kaya masaktan ako yang minsan, pati ‘yung tang-ina ‘yung kotse ko, hindi ko mabuksan. Hanggang hindi buksan ng gagong driver doon. The first day na sinundo ako when I became a President noon. Tang-ina, isang kilometro, sa bahay pa lang eh maliit ‘yung subdivision niya, makitid eh, it’s a—my house is very small, andiyan ako sa Teachers Village. Dagdagan ko ng isang kuwarto, because nanganak ‘yung asawa ko, hindi kami puwede sa kama, ayaw ko rin, matanda na ako, nagpagawa ako ng kwarto.

Ang bahay ko, ganoon tapos may parang chimney, that’s my room. Anak lang ako ng mahirap at hindi ako yumaman hanggang ngayon. But in the process, I got the best of politics. I never lost an election, it was always a landslide and even nag-President ako, it was landslide. Ang problema nito, baka ma-slide ako. (laughter)

Salamat po. (applause)