MANILA – His decision to skip voting in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections was “purely political,” according to President Rodrigo Duterte.
He did not want his supporters to think that he was siding with just a few of them, the President disclosed Tuesday.
Duterte, a registered voter of Barangay Matina, Davao City, was supposed to cast his vote at the Daniel R. Aguinaldo National High School on Monday – but didn’t.
“Lahat iyang tumakbo kaibigan ko. Almost all were my supporters during the last election,” the chief executive said.
“And they would never believe na nagboto ako o hindi sa kanila, so tingin ko the better option would really be to just skip the voting kasi ayaw kong magduda sila,” he explained.
Not voting would “erase all suspicions in the mind of people who really helped me along the way,” said the President.
“Iyon ang totoo. Mag-iwas na lang ako ng … kasi for one reason or another, some or all men were, ‘Isa talaga sa amin ang binoto, may pinili si mayor.’ E lahat halos may utang na loob ako, sa tulong nila,” he said.
The synchronized barangay and SK elections on Monday were the first under the Duterte presidency./PN
