-->

Duterte Hits NEDA Agency for Impeding Davao's LRT Project

Manila, Philippines - In a post written by Manual Piñol  dated March 13, 2015 he narrated that the Davao City Mayor, Rodrigo Duterte had a meeting with members of the different Rotary Clubs in Manila as part of his "Listening Tour" to advocate  a shift from the Presidential Unitary form of government to a Federal Parliamentary form.

But the said night turned colorful when the Mayor started to rails againts biases of the Central Government towards 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 Imperialists? You named a fish after him and everyday you have fried Lapulapu and escabecheng Lapulapu," Duterte said drawing wild laughter from the Rotarians who filled the function room of the Century Park Sheraton.

"Lapulapu 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," Duterte said.

"In police lingo, "Dagohoy" means a holdupper," he said.

He added that heroes from the Southern Philippines like Sultan Kudarat who ruled the plains of Central Mindanao in the 1600s  and who fought the invading Spaniards in bloody hand to hand combat was perhaps the only declared national hero by the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

Along with Lapulapu and Dagohoy, Sultan Kudarat is also largely unknown among people in the Northern Philippines, He said.

"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.

"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.

He said that a highly centralized government where almost every action by the local government units requires approval from the Central Government has stunted the growth of the regions.

NEDA walang 'Nada' (Worthless)

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 that the National Economic and Development Authority should be called 'non-sense'.

Source : Manny Piñol