“I have seen how criminality, by means all foul, snatched from the innocent and the unsuspecting, the years and years of accumulated savings. Years of toil and then, suddenly, they are back to where they started,” the President said.
“Look at this from that perspective and tell me that I am wrong,” Duterte added.
The President called on Congress and the Commission on Human Rights to remain consistent with their mandates.
“In this fight, I ask Congress and the Commission on Human Rights and all others who are similarly situated to allow us a level of governance that is consistent with our mandate.
The fight will be relentless and it will be sustained,” Duterte said.
“You mind your work and I will mind mine,” he added.
Duterte appealed to Filipinos to join him in the difficult crusade of bringing about genuine change.
“The ride will be rough but have the courage and join me just the same. Together, shoulder to shoulder, let us take the first wobbly steps in this quest,” he said.
Duterte pointed out that he was elected to serve the entire country and “not the interest of any one person, or any group or any one class.”
“I serve everyone and not only one...I have no friends to serve. I have no enemies to harm,” he said.
“Why am I here? I am here because I love my country and I love the people of the Philippines. I am here, why? Because I am ready to start my work for the nation,” the President added.
Duterte summed up his economic policies by quoting former US President Abraham Lincoln: “You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong; You cannot help the poor by discouraging the rich; You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer; You cannot further the brotherhood by inciting class hatred among men.”
He also quoted another former US president, Franklin Roosevelt: “The test of government is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide for those who have little.”
“My economic and financial, political policies are contained in those quotations, though couched in general terms. Read between the lines. I need not go into specifics now. They shall be supplied to you in due time,” Duterte said.