Duterte says he regrets running for president, lost interest at work due to corruption

Even President Rodrigo Duterte has his regrets and apparently, this includes running for the presidency.

He said during a speech in Cagayan de Oro City yesterday that he regrets vying for the highest government post because of all the corruption he has encountered.

“I lost my enthusiasm to work. Actually, I deeply regretted it. I regretted my decision to run for president,” he said in front of local government officials in Cebuano and English.

Duterte said he started to feel this when the Nayong Pilipino Foundation Incorporated (NPFI) got involved in a scandal.

In August last year, he fired all the board members of the NPFI for entering into an agreement with gaming firm Landing Resorts Philippines Development Corporation which was grossly disadvantageous to the government because it would have cost them PHP25 billion (US$481.2 million), reported the Philippine Star.

The deal involved the construction of a casino on a piece of land owned by the NPFI in Parañaque City. After Duterte sacked NPFI officials, the Department of Justice declared the lease contract void because it did not go through public bidding, reported Rappler. 

“I was trying to solve the Nayong Pilipino fiasco,” Duterte recalled. “They allowed a casino to be erected without public bidding. I got so angry.”

Duterte said that the systemic corruption in government has made him unhappy.

“If you’ll say that I’m happy, I would not lie. Why would I lie? I don’t have any obligation to you to tell a lie. I’m sick and tired of the system,” he said.

He said that he was so sick of the system that he even discouraged his daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte from running for president. He’s also worried that other politicians would disrespect her.

“That’s why I would not allow Inday (Sara) to run….I would tell her, ‘Don’t run, ‘Day. These present crop of politicians would destroy you. They are thieves,” he said.

Sara said in April that she’s not planning to run for president when her father’s term ends in 2022.

“I have not decided on anything except my plan is to finish 3 terms as mayor in Davao City if Dabawenyos agree with me. And [President Duterte] is correct: I am not thinking about running for President,” she told ABS-CBN News.