Iyong listahan. Maupo po kayo.

To the Philippines Olympic Chairman Sports Commissioner Peping Cojuangco and Butch Ramirez. He used to—Butch used to work for me for the longest time. Iyong napaalis siya tapos pabalik na naman siya. He was the—he’s occupying the office, he was occupying during Arroyo’s time.

There are about 10 gold, silver is 5, bronze is 2. Ano ba ito athletes, unsa siya, naibigay na ba ito o wala pa? Ah, kapag nanalo ibigay ko lahat ng bayan sa inyo. I’ll give you an island. (laughter) Butch, unsa man ni lagi, palihog. Kindly.

Pasensiya na hindi ako sanay mag-istorya ng ganito. Well, we are in the discipline of golf, table tennis, taekwondo, swimming, weightlifting. This is a very limited area of sports sa discipline, but I believe that considering that we have only sent, it’s not really a token but a small delegation, maybe this is the fiercest and most competitive among all.

Alam mo ho, it is sad that we cannot really finance the building of a human being into an athlete. Dito contemporary times because we get it from the provinces where they excel but somehow, at the start, they do not have the nutrition, they do not have really the skill at an early age. Eh nagko-collate pa ho kayo, we try to pick them up from the different provinces and to look for the best thereabout.

In the sense that we are not really prepared or prepare them for an early age, an early training to spot them and from the crowd and build him to be a very good athlete at an early age. Iyan ang, that’s the drawback and it is simply because of contemporary times. We do not have the structure really of getting the best except for the athletic meets that we conduct regularly, most of all is really at an early age, there’s the proper nutrition. But somehow, God has been kind to us in boxing, kasi palaban nga ito, it’s either a do or die, nag-e-excel ang Filipino dito. Foremost is really Pacquiao who would be the hero of the ages of this nation.

Then table tennis, ang mahusay diyan ang mga Chinese. Diyan sila, so and Singapore maybe but mostly this field of discipline is cornered by them. Then we have the taekwondo, medyo atin ‘to. We can compete with this. Swimming, of course, weightlifting. Well, I said, we are not really built for such a task. But in golf, table tennis maybe. Kaya pagdating ninyo doon, lagyan ninyo ng—buksan ninyo yung mga tent nila, lagyan ninyo ng ziga, zika? Ah ang Pilipino hindi magdapo. Pag may nagdapo diyan lamok, kainin mo. Ako magkain ako sa bukid maraming langaw, sabi ko, haah, never mind, I will eat the Goddamn fly. Nutritious ‘yan. It’s how you are built to challenge the staphylococcus, the strep pati the staph. We are build in such a way that we enjoy a sort of a mechanism defense, the immune system that’s better off than the others. (applause)

Because, you know, I have experienced that as mayor when I go into a relocation project and the dismantling of houses, you can just imagine, Boy! the mosquitoes abound everywhere. And yet they are healthy and alive and most of them are soldiers, ganito ganyan, as if they were not bitten at all. It would take a cobra of the African species to kill a Filipino. (laughter) The local, ano bang tawag diyan sa amin? It’s, there’s a dialect for that cobra wars.

Well, I would like to just say to you that just try your best. You need not really kill to win. Just enough that you try very hard. And the conscious mind would always warp on something in the direction of love of country. Nothing beats, you know, not everybody, not everybody is given the honor to serve his country.

Of the 100 million Filipinos plus for, few are given, I said, the opportunity to be a part of a team or to be working for government, and it’s not given to everybody. So that honor is very distinct in the sense of numbers and the—yung sa loob.

Kaya ako, I’d like to tell you the truth. If I were to go back in time, hindi na ako magpasok dito because in terms of material, hindi ako magbobola, eh kailangan mo. Like us, we have to work to death to earn a living and to have something pagtanda mo. You have to contend with the medicines, the hospitalization. Sino bang ayaw ng—but ganitong, ganitong sa akin ngayon? Ito para itong 100 million Olympics eh, would it not for the love of my country. This is just a matter of being honored, tapos standing there to review the troops and being proud that you are President up to that—tapos siya. When you work, you know, I work everyday and ang sweldo, kokonti lang masyado. At may dalawa akong pamilya, paghatiin nilang dalawa, pamilya ko, papaano iyan? Wala na akong allowance para sa akin. No more, no more happiness. Eh manghiram ka pa sa Presidential Security. Put yourself at ease, Ma’am.

Iyon, when all the mesmerizing activity after the clapping of the hands, you find yourself alone here, when you go out at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning after a Cabinet meeting, that is really very ruckus, you tend to say: “Bakit ba ako pumunta dito?” Eh kung mayor ka lang, okay lang, ‘pag magsabi, “Saan si Mayor?” “Sa Maynila.” Pero kung itanong sa’yo siguro, “Saan si Mayor?” “Davao.” Eh di lusot ka pirme. Dito walang… (laughter]

You know, my appointments would take me until about 10 o’clock, mag-uumpisa ‘yan diyan. How far into the night? I really would not kind of venture to you how many. But like you and me, we have to train ourselves to discipline work in your field of discipline na sa—asahan ko naman sana na ibigay mo talaga, kasi minsan nakakatsamba tayo. In a matter of the averages, we do not have it because kulang tayo, pagkain and the way that we are still down there. Pero balang araw, in the fullness of God’s time, we’d be able to catch up with them.

Kaya galit ako sa ngayon, I have this ambassador, gusto kong sipain eh. He was reminding me at about this emissions and the carbon footprints, and I said, ‘Yes, we are a signatory to that agreement.’ “And would you be able to maintain your emissions?” Ko, ‘No, I cannot tell.’ Sabi niya, “because it will be distributed pro rata.” Eh sabi ko, ‘you know, you do not do it that way, Mr. Ambassador. You who have reached your apeak and along the way spewed a lot of contaminants and emissions and went ahead in destroying the climate. Good for you. We, are here, we have not reached the age of industrialization. We are going into it. But you are trying to stymie us with an agreement na hanggang dito lang kayo, hanggang dito lang kayo, we maintain the present emission.’ Sabi ko, ‘that’s stupid. I will not honor that.’ Sabi niya, “But you signed the…” That was not my signature. (laughter) Somebody else’s, not mine. Sabi ko, ‘You—we better…, di ba? I will not follow.

Eh kayo ‘yung mataas na inyo, along the way, lahat ng basura, all these centuries, tapos ngayon na paakyat lang kami ng amin, eh mag-limit-limit kayo, sabi ko. “How about the signed convention?” That is not my signature. We will make a new one or we do not honor at all. Kalokohan ‘yan.

So that is how very competitive and that is how very constricted our lives now. It’s being controlled by the world. It’s being imposed upon us by the industrialized countries. They think that they can dictate what the destiny of the rest of the nation. Sila ‘yan. Kanila ang ano—just like the oligarchs of this country, the elite. They get contracts from government. They enjoy the fat of the land and they don’t really bother paying taxes. They have this online gambling. We do not even know how much are they earning, how much are we supposed to collect, or there is no mechanism to collect at all.

Tapos, tayong mga dito, we’re trying to train athletes for our country for the greater glory of this Philippines. Hirap tayo kung saan tayo mag-ano. And yet, the oligarchs continue to wallow in the filth of wealth, I said, and enjoying the fat of this nation. Parang kalokohan dito. So that is why I said I assure you during my time, I will get the money from the pockets of those who are not paying and give it to you to train well. Maybe the next year, meron tayo. (applause)

Mahirap ‘yan. Everyday, all throughout the Philippines, we lose about 300 million a day in all ports, 300 million a day. If I can just collect it, one month, two months, ibigay ko sa inyo. Tapos na ang problema ko sa—at least, ‘yung ating athletes, or for the poor and for everything there. That is why, you are to embark, be comfortable in the thought that in the coming days, you will have more support because I will collect taxes. (applause) At maasahan ninyo graft and corruption will stop right on its tracks. No more tax exemptions. No more rich people importing, ‘yung mga oligarchs. Nandiyan lang sila. They have the connections, they—sekretarya. Putang-ina, sipain ko kayong lahat. Ah, totoo.

Do not do it in my time. And drugs, I ran because, well, of course nobody was talking about the serious problem of Mindanao. Lahat sila at I mean everybody filed their candidacy and they were into their program of government, nobody but nobody was talking about Mindanao. If you do not do that, do your homework there, we will end up a fragmented state. That was—I was forced to run. Added to ayan ang Mindanao, corruption, crime and drugs. Noong una, marami nagsisigaw: “Duterte one or two, dito namatay, human rights.” Now na Presidente ako, I am declaring a total war against the drugs and criminality. Tingnan ninyo ngayon.

What are we supposed to do? Yung nag-surrender na 18,000—80, 80,000! That is let alone the three years ago report of the PDEA, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, that there are about three million addicts in this country. Exponentially, at a liberal interpretation, dagdagan mo na lang ng mga 500,000. How do we rehab these guys? Where do we get the money? Kasi napabayaan eh.

I would not blame any particular administration, but all these years, this problem was allowed to flourish and it has now evolved into something that’s scary for all of us. Kaya every addict, the Human Rights would look only just into the death of the addict that he is poor. Paano ‘yan? ‘Eh nag-drug addict ako, naging kriminal ako kasi ‘yung nanay ko puta lang, yung tatay ko hold-upper.’ Ganyan lang? That is your only reason to commit crime? Because you are into drugs, you have to have the fix everyday.

If you are not a son of a wealthy man, you go out to the streets to look for the amount to buy and you go into rape, pag nabangag ka na, then you hold-up ka. Lahat na ginagawa: nakaw, pati bata. Sa bata, utusan nila magnakaw, tapos bibilhin nila yung… Yung snatching, you think they are orchestrated by the child itself? No. Sila ‘yung utusan nila mag-ano ba. Then they buy the stolen goods. Pagbili nila, bigyan yung bata. That’s why, it’s a conflagration of everything. Now, I said I have a job to do. I have a promise to the Philippines. Mabuti pa na gawain nila ito, tayong mga atleta. Kasi, but we have first to deal with the fundamental problem. It’s the deterioration of our system.

Now, bakit? Nakita niyo the dimension of it all. The widespread use. Why? Because government allowed it to be that big. And sabihin mo, bakit dumating naman ganito, dumating na ganitong karami at widespread, umabot ng thousands by thousands? Because government or people in government itself were into it also.

And I could not imagine a cadet of the Philippine Military Academy or the Philippine National Police na tayo ang nagbayad sa kanilang schooling, pagkain, lahat. Then, when they are there, they become generals, they can afford to commit treason against the country. It’s a wartime crime, but amongst us, it’s treason. Kaya dumating tayo nang ganito? Eh kung nagpalambot-lambot ako, walang mangyayari dito. So I said, I at the beginning: Remember all of you that I’m putting at stake, my life, my honor, and even losing the presidency. Hindi ako aatras diyan.

Pag ‘yan lang ang nagawa ko sa bayan ko, period. Eh ‘di tama na. But hindi ako aatras dito. Not by the Human Rights, not by the religious, not by anybody, except my conscience and because I have to save my country.

Maraming salamat po. (applause)

* * *

PRRD : Nandiyan ba si Secretary Diokno? Wala? He’s out? Asan ang opisina niya?
Well, anyway, I have a—kasi yung amount ninyo, 1,000 athletes, coaches and secretariat, kung ako kayo, huwag na kayong pumunta doon. 1,000 dollars? Tapos officials is 2,000. I will increase your—sa mga athletes’ coaches sa 3,000. (applause)

Ang mga opisyal kasi mayaman na yan sila, 500 na lang. (laughter/applause) Hindi! Ah 3, you have 5. Good enough? 5,000 dollars (applause) for them.

Huwag tayo magtingi, huwag tayong magtingi. That’s why, hindi naman cheapskate but kung panahon sa nakawan pati gastuhan, ito, that’s the reason why.

You know, other countries are so liberal with their finances because they want to help. Pag ganito lang, Diokno is, you know, he’s the Finance Secretary, eh sabihin na naman niya na kulang man talaga, Mayor.

O di yung suweldo ng PSG, yung buwan na ito, i-give up na lang ninyo. (laughter) Isang batallion yang nandiyan, andiyan si Colonel Bautista, Rolly was assigned in Davao many years ago also.

So, 3 and 5? Would that be okay for you, guys? (applause) O, gusto ninyo dagdagan pa ng dalawang libo? (laughter) Kung andito, Diokno, magalit yan. (applause)