Refusing to cower in fear, President Rodrigo Duterte will push through with his planned visit to Lanao de Sur on Wednesday despite the roadside explosion that injured several government troops.
The President has decided to defy the security recommendation to postpone his Mindanao trip, saying he even plans to take the same route to Marawi City.
And if something bad happens to him, the President assured the nation that Vice President Leni Robredo could ably assume the top government post.
“I’m going there because… I am just simply going there. The advice was to postpone [the trip], I said ‘no, I will go there,’ and if possible, take the same route. Maybe we can have a little gun fight here, gun fight there…exercise,” Duterte said during the inauguration of a China-funded drug rehabilitation facility here.
“Kung hindi ako lulusot, eh nandiyan naman, that’s why we have a vice president, Leni Robredo. Then you can have a gentle president also in exchange for the either courteous/discourteous mouth,” he added.
The President had been told that several Presidential Security Group (PSG) members were injured when an improvised explosive device detonated in Marawi City on Tuesday morning. The troops were part of the advance party for the President’s visit.
The injured soldiers have been brought to Cagayan de Oro for treatment.
Duterte admitted that there was trouble in Mindanao but the situation is “within control,” apparently alluding to military offensives against the Maute terror group in Lanao del Sur.
“But it’s a troublesome thing so I have to fly (on Wednesday),” he added.
The President earlier ruled out an all-out war against the groups sowing trouble in Mindanao, preferring instead to take the peaceful route in settling the conflict.
The post Duterte: ‘I am Going to Marawi…I am Just Simply Going There’ appeared first on Manila Bulletin.
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