Ibalong Centrum for Recreation, Legazpi City, Albay
February 8, 2019

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte served as the guest of honor and keynote speaker in the Peace and Order Summit for Barangay Officials held at the Ibalong Centrum for Recreation (ICR) in Legazpi City, Albay.

In his message, President Duterte expressed his wishes for an “honest, orderly and peaceful elections” on May 13, 2019 and ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) “not to take sides” with any political candidates and parties, and to “reduce violence to the barest minimum”.   Likewise, he instructed his Cabinet members not to campaign for any candidate.

He enumerated his government plans on land reform in several provinces within the country, and what his administration had accomplished on the equitable distribution of agricultural land to those who need it the most, such as the Aeta community of Boracay Island. At the same time, he called on the people to simply remember him as a “government worker” because he is paid to do his job, and that he does not need the adulation of people and his supporters to fulfill his mandate to the Filipino people.

The President reiterated his commitment to curb graft and corruption in the government and instilling law and order to attain real progress and development in the nation, as well as his ongoing campaign against illegal drugs to save the next generation of Filipinos.

He emphasized that he “never shifted his paradigm” in his many decades of political leadership, and that the changes he is doing is for “the greatest good for the greatest number” of his countrymen.

Initiated by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Summit discussed the national government’s campaign against illegal drugs, criminality, corruption, violent extremism, the administration’s advocacy on federalism, and the DILG’s mandate to maintain peace and order.
Around 2,500 participants composed of barangay officials, provincial governors, municipal and city mayors from six (6) provinces of the Bicol region, and other government officials attended the event.

 

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