Duterte on skipping polls: Purely political

“Lahat ‘yung tumakbo, kaibigan ko, almost all were my supporters during the last election,” he told reporters in Taguig City during his visit to the wake of the late former Senator Edgardo Angara. “They would never believe that nagboto ako o hindi sa kanila.” (Photo By: Joyce Rocamora/PNA)

MANILA — Finding himself in a situation where he had to choose only one side from among his supporters, President Rodrigo R. Duterte said on Tuesday his decision to skip the 2018 barangay (village) elections was “purely political.”

“Lahat ‘yung tumakbo, kaibigan ko, almost all were my supporters during the last election,” he told reporters in Taguig City during his visit to the wake of the late former Senator Edgardo Angara. “They would never believe that nagboto ako o hindi sa kanila.”

Duterte said he did not want to becloud the minds of his supporters with suspicions, that is why he came up with the decision.

“To erase all suspicions in the minds of people who really helped me along the way, sabi ko ‘ay ‘wag na lang, hindi na lang ako pupunta,” he explained. “‘Yon ang totoo, iwas na lang ako.”

Duterte skipping from casting a vote in yesterday’s polls was the first under his administration.

On Monday, the polling precinct at Daniel R. Aguinaldo High School in Davao City, where the president was expected to vote, closed at 3 p.m. without the chief executive submitting his ballot.