President Rodrigo Roa Duterte capped his six-year term in office that gave Filipinos renewed hope after he was accorded with departure honors in Malacañang on Thursday.

Prior to the traditional send-off ceremony for the outgoing leader, President Duterte received President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. at the Palace for a tête-à-tête before the former’s inauguration at the National Museum of Fine Arts in the City of Manila.

The 16th President was elected by championing his populist agenda of rooting out the proliferation of illegal narcotics, as well as fighting corruption and criminality.

One of his contributions include the administration’s ambitious Build, Build, Build Program dubbed as the golden age of infrastructure development in the Philippines.

He also steered the country as the COVID-19 pandemic struck and spearheaded a massive immunization drive against the coronavirus to prepare the nation for eventual recovery and rehabilitation.

President Duterte will also be remembered as the president who gravitated toward the Philippines’s non-traditional partners—Russia and China under his independent foreign policy.

Although stepping down from power, the President has expressed willingness to offer advice to new leaders and vowed to continue combating illegal drugs, his lifelong advocacy. PND