Davao City Mayor Rodrigo "Digong" R. Duterte's speech @ the ATF

[LytSlpr]

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VERY EMOTIONAL YET HALF THOUGHT, IN MY OPINION... Â*OF COURSE, PEOPLE APPLAUDED BECAUSE MOST ARE SUCKERS FOR MELODRAMATICS BUT THIS IS NO WAY TO TALK TO VISITORS. Â*WITH THIS MAYOR'S OVERFLAMING PRIDE & OVERFLOWING EGO HE MIGHT BE LOOKING AT ANOTHER COUPLE DEAD BODIES CAUSED BY TERRORIST BOMBINGS AND HE CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT JUST LIKE IN THE PAST. I TRULY LAUD THIS MAYOR FOR GAINING RESPECT OF THE DAVAOEñOS BUT MOST OF THE TIME HE'S TOO SURE OF HIMSELF THAT SOMETIMES HE TENDS TO FORGET THAT HE IS DARING A FACELESS ENEMY.


Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte delivered this well applauded and much appreciated piece during the 25th ASEAN Tourism Forum Opening Ceremonies last January 17, 2006 Â*at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Convention Hall.

MABUHAY ANG DAVAO! MABUHAY ANG PILIPINAS!

On behalf of the more than 1.4 million diverse people in this largest city in the world, it is my honor and pleasure to welcome you all to Davao City- the Philippines' gateway to Mindanao and to the East ASEAN Growth Area.

Thank you for choosing our city to be the venue of this silver anniversary of the Asean Tourism Forum. You have chosen well because we are extremely proud of our achievements as a cosmopolitan city of Indigenous and Muslim tribes and migrant settlers from all over the world.

Truth be told, we have not really consciously promoted Davao City as a tourist destination until now, when you insisted that we should come out into the world and share our own wealth of wonders. This reluctance to open to outsiders is probably due to OUR HISTORY OF STRUGGLE AGAINST THE IMPERIALISTIC AGENDA OF OUR WESTERN COLONIZERS AND EVEN OF OUR OWN MANILA-CENTRIC NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. We are wary of foreigners who come and visit because BEFORE ONE CONQUERS AND EXPLOITS A PLACE, ONE FIRST VISITS IT AS A TOURIST. SO WE CAN NEVER BE SURE.

But, perhaps, Davao is too beautiful to remain a secret for long. People who come here could not stop telling others about it and some of them even stay here for good. YOU ARE ALL WELCOME, OF COURSE. BUT YOU CAN ONLY DO SO ON OUR TERMS. WE WILL NOT CHANGE THE WAY WE ARE JUST TO PLEASE OUR TOURISTS. WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET. AFTER ALL, ISN'T THE POINT OF TRAVEL THE ADVENTURE OF DISCOVERING NEW PLACES, MEETING NEW PEOPLE, AND EXPERIENCING OTHER WAYS OF LIFE?

Davao's unique offering to the world is our diversity of peoples, cultures, and nature and how all of these interconnect and mix to create a truly cosmopolitan city. We are home to majority of the indigenous tribes found only in this part of the world and to a vast variety of flora and fauna. We enjoy an environment that is embracing and tolerant of diverse thinking and lifestyles, where no one group or idea dominating over the others. So the kind of tourists we want to visit us are those who appreciate diversity and who wish to be enriched by our varied cultures, who have respect for our people's rights and welfare. We want only those who wish to bring us peace and no harm.

Of course, the NEGATIVE TRAVEL ADVISORY AGAINST US IS CANTED AND SELF-SERVING. There is POLITICS IN TOURISM, after all. If we look at the COUNTRIES THAT ARE FOND OF LABELING US AS HAVING "SECURITY PROBLEMS", THESE ARE ACTUALLY THE VERY SAME COUNTRIES THAT INVADE AND CONQUER OTHER COUNTRIES, WAGE UNJUST WARS, AND Â*INCIDENTALLY, CONTROL THE GLOBAL TOURISM INDUSTRY. So we should not accept that as a matter of fact, but view it as part of a larger political context. Being hypocritical and discriminating against poorer ad smaller destinations like us is probably their tourism strategy. Because HOW ELSE CAN THEY COMPETE AGAINST EXOTIC AND CULTURALLY RICH ASIAN DESTINATIONS?

If I may be allowed to share Davao's tourism strategy, it can be summed up with this - TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN PEOPLE, REMAIN UNCONQUERED, ASSERT YOUR INDEPENDENT SPIRIT, MAINTAIN AND ENCOURAGE DIVERSITY, ENSURE JUST IMPLEMENTATION OF LAW AND ORDER, AND IGNORE TRAVEL ADVISORIES ISSUED BY ILL-ADVISED EMBASSIES. WE WILL TELL YOU OURSELVES IF WE ARE NOT READY FOR YOUR VISIT.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Most Livable Philippine City in Asia! We will take good care of you the way we do our own.

[dairyman]

I like it... there are no "bullshits" in his speech.. it kinda shows what kind of leader he is, saying what he gotta say..

[LytSlpr]

I like it... there are no "bullshits" in his speech.. it kinda shows what kind of leader he is, saying what he gotta say..

but he could have said it someother way with the same firmness.

could you picture could-have-been President FPJ giving that kind of speech in an APEC summit?Â* We will be the laughing stock of the entire international community on CNN & BBC.

On a different note..

the problem with this mayor is that he is sooo emotional that he tends to be unobjective.Â* take the case of his burning of the singaporean flag and later on apologized to them because they were guests at the recent ATF for possible trades.Â* militant groups do that but definitely not a mayor or public official.

there was also an instance that he said F.U. and gave the finger sign to the muslim rebels/terrorists on national TV after the bombing of the Davao airport. Just a few days later Sasa wharf was bombed again probably because they were challenged due to his insolenceÂ*and he wasn't able to do anything about it.Â* i bet the terrorists were laughing on mountains for downplaying and humiliating the good mayor of davao.

this mayor's temper, mouth and finger for that matter gets him into more trouble and ends up putting his foot in his mouth.

[FK]

as i read the speech... mura man og militant ang ga-deliver.

[slakker]

parehas ra man sila ni Tomas ba, no-nonsense, tell-it-as-it-is, in-your-face approach.

[potterboy]

no offense to cons.... i like him better than tommy.

[LytSlpr]

no offense to cons.... i like him better than tommy.

needless to say, my mother's side are all from davao, 3 judges, 2 fiscals and a good number of lawyers, plus court interpreters, clerks of court and sherrifs.Â* the justice system is their family affair so to speak.Â* the reason i mentioned this is because digong duterte used to be their colleague when he was still a fiscal and they said he was always drunk then and had a liking for young women even until now.

anyway, even with the constant execution of drug pushers by DDS, drugs will still not be elimanted in davao city because they only kill the runners which are mostly gang members there.Â* in short, isog lang na siya sa kaya niya like guys in their late teens & early 30's. i don't think mayor duterte's dirty harry style will work with big time drug syndicates here in Cebu wherein even judges, fiscals, prosecutors and entire families are eliminated.Â* even the vigilantes here in Cebu has yet to eliminate a rich and prominent drug lord. puro ra gyud pushers ilang kaya.

while security is a major concern in davao, it should not be the ONLY concern.Â* he failed to address the economy and tourism of davao which is the reason why graduates mostly end up looking for jobs in Cebu & Manila and business there is slow. that is why cebu city's local officials are still better in terms of performance compared to any LGU in the philippines. and on a personal note, mas hambugero si digong kay ni tomas sa personal mas suplado lang si tomas.

[gareb]

i'm tickled senseless.

u can expect something like this coming from duterte, but to actually *read* it (or better yet hear it being read by no less than him in front of everybody) is just something.

he is. i like the message but i cannot believe such delivery, such words, such epitome of authoritarian crass.

*laff* *laff*

[zhen]

I was expecting something heart melting words (since it was mentioned at the beginning that this is emotional)

but needless to say ...it`s so much him .. and I even nodded reading the part which says: " YOU ARE ALL WELCOME, OF COURSE. BUT YOU CAN ONLY DO SO ON OUR TERMS."

[digitalsuperman]

most livable diay ang davao city sa asia? diba fukuoka man toh?