DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 07 August) — Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte said his political rift with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is allegedly depriving funding for the city’s big-ticket projects.
During his second State of the City address (SOCA) at the Rizal Park Tuesday afternoon, Duterte expressed his frustration over the national government’s “defunding” of the High Priority Bus System (HPBS) and the Waste-to-Energy (WTE) projects.
“Baga kaayo ang politika. Medyo menos ang nation-building karon, particularly in relation to the administration. So I doubt nga butangan pud na nila og kwarta gyud. So ayaw na lang gyud mo og… I don’t want to be pessimistic, but I have to be realistic, kay mao gyud ang sitwasyon,” Duterte said.
(“Politics is shameless. Under this administration, nation-building seems to be diminishing. I doubt if they will put funds into these [Davao City] projects. So don’t… I don’t want to be pessimistic, but I have to be realistic, because that’s the situation now.”)
Last January, the mayor called on Marcos to resign during the Hakbang ng Maisug Leaders Forum here. “Mr. President, if wala kay gugma ug aspirations sa imohang nasod, resign! (If you don’t have love nor aspirations for your country, resign!),” he said.
During the “prayer rally” later that evening, former President Rodrigo Duterte did not call for Marcos’ resignation but warned “he might suffer the fate of his father, Ferdinand Sr. who was ousted by People Power in 1986, if he does not stop his wife Liza, and first cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez, from pushing for a signature campaign for alleged People’s Initiative, in exchange for money.”
The former president called Marcos “bangag” (high on drugs) and a “drug addict” and his wife Liza, “hungry for power.”
Last June, Vice President Sara Duterte, who ran with Marcos under the UniTeam slate during the 2022 elections, tendered her resignation as education secretary and vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
In his SOCA, Mayor Duterte said the “political tension between the city and the Marcos administration started with the bizarre reshuffling and reassignment of some police officers.”
He said there is “no clear justification” why these police officers were relieved, just as he is seeking justifications to the delayed implementation of big-ticket projects in the city.
The HPBS, which is now called the Davao City Public Transport Modernization Project (DCPTMP), has not received national government funds to greenlight its implementation, Davao Bus Project Manager lawyer Tristan Dwight Domingo said.
To recall, the national government signed a $1-billion loan (P54.89 billion) agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on July 1, 2023 to finance the implementation of the bus project.
Earlier during a podcast streamed in his Facebook page CM Baste Duterte, the mayor said the bus project “might not be funded” under the Marcos administration. He added he sent letters to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to inquire on the project’s status.
“Maghuwat gyud ta ani (We can do nothing but wait), because we cannot afford it. But the (ADB) and the president were here, (signing) the contract. Tan-awon ta ni (let us see) if they will fulfill their promise,” Duterte said in his SOCA.
As to the WTE project with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, it was put on hold but some firms from Europe and Australia were keen on investing in them, Councilor Temujin “Tek” Ocampo said earlier.
Duterte said that DENR’s funding support for the WTE project “will resume in 2026.”
He called on the Dabawenyos to be patient, saying “that in time, the city will further progress.” (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
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