by Chito A, Fuentes
TUNGA, LEYTE - Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is the hope of at least one boy.
This was the message of a painting presented to Duterte as a token from the Leyte Electric Cooperative III (Leyeco 3) Saturday afternoon.
“The face on the shirt is the face of hope for his future,” Leyeco 3 general manager Allan Laniba explained in Cebuano.
Duterte was in Tunga as guest speaker on Leyeco’s 36th annual general membership meeting.
At the end of Duterte’s speech, Leyeco 3 general manager Allan Laniba presented a painting of a boy holding a staff on one hand.
Laniba explained that boys traditionally carry a staff for different uses but this one symbolizes a guide.
On the boy’s shirt was a face - Duterte’s.
Like his previous engagements, Duterte said he is not a candidate and is not interested to be one.
The mayor, however, conceded in a subsequent media interview that he will call his family to a meeting to settle the issue “once and for all”.
“I have talked to them separately but not together,” Duterte said in Cebuano.
The mayor was asked about his reactions to the culmination program of a nationwide caravan in Davao City Friday night where many people expected him to make a proclamation.
Instead, the participants coming from different places of the country proclaimed Duterte as the people’s candidate.
In Tunga, Duterte maintained that the present state of governance does not excite him.
The mayor, who has visited many parts of the country to promote federalism which he said is the “last card” to prevent violence in Mindanao, insists he is not a candidate for president.
“I never said I am running for president,” Duterte declared emphatically as a hush fell inside the hall.
Earlier, the participants gushed when the mayor told them he was born in Maasin in neighboring Southern Leyte.
It was obvious Duterte still continues to hold his ground against the clamor for him run.
But time is running out on the mayor with the deadline in the filing of certificates for candidacy just more than a month away. Time is running out on Duterte, and he is aware of it.
Will he just ride peacefully into the sunset? Or will he give in to the groundswell and fight the biggest fight of his life?
It will be a very difficult choice. The face on the shirt of the boy in the painting from Tunga just made it even more difficult. (CHITO A. FUENTES)
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