Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte, took his Federal advocacy to a different level Wednesday night when he said that the concentration of power in highly Centralized Government based in Metro Manila has spawned biases against people from the provinces, including heroes and historical personalities.
“You are so unfair. Your heroes here like Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio are installed on pedestals and their birthdays are declared public holidays,” Duterte told members of the different Rotary Clubs of Metro Manila who gathered at the Century Park Sheraton.
“But what have you done to our hero, Lapu Lapu, the first Filipino to fight the Spanish colonialists? You named a fish after him and everyday you have fried lapu-lapu and escabecheng lapu-lapu,” Duterte said drawing wild laughter from the Rotarians who filled the function room of the Century Park Sheraton.
“Lapu Lapu is our hero and he ends up in the chopping board. We have another hero from Bohol, Francisco Dagohoy, who fought the Spaniards but his name is also given derogatory meaning,” he said.
“In police lingo, ‘Dagohoy’ means a holdupper,” he said.
There are also other heroes from the Southern Philippines like Sultan Kudarat who ruled the plains of Central Mindanao in the 1600s who fought the invading Spaniards in bloody hand to hand combat.
He was declared a national hero, perhaps the only Muslim to be accorded the honor, by the late President Ferdinand Marcos.
Along with Lapu Lapu and Dagohoy, Sultan Kudarat is also largely unknown among people in the Northern Philippines.
“You have always looked at Mindanao as a distant star. But we are Filipinos just like you and I am here to ask you to make us feel that we are your brothers,” Duterte told the Rotarians.
Duterte cited the proposed light rail project for the city of Davao which was submitted to the National Economic Development Authority for review and assessment.
“It has been there for three years now but so far I have not received a word on whether they will approve it or not,” he said.
The proposed light rail transit is planned to connect the southern most barangay of Davao City to its northern district to cut travel time and address the expected traffic congestion with the projected growth of the city years from now.
The South Korean consultants who have proposed the project, however, have complained that they have been given a run-around in Metro Manila.
“Kaya ang dapat itawag sa NEDA ay NADA, as in walang nada,” he said. (Walang nada in the Visayan language means “walang silbi” or good-for-nothing.)
http://www.tribune.net.ph/nation/davao-mayor-rails-against-biases-on-filipino-heroes
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maypa ang davao naay LRT project.. looking forward to the future, and cebu when kaha?
and yes, para fair sa tanan.. wala nalng separate holidays for Rizal and Bonifacio.. diha nalng na tanan i-celebrate inig August nga National Heroes day.
Davao mayor rails against the biases of the Imperial Manila
Originally Posted by dodong69
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