During the end days of March 2015, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao was in Cebu to attend a reunion of the Veloso clan, to which the Dutertes of Danao, his paternal ancestors, were part of as well.
Duterte was at the time the political buzz leading to the national election of 2016. Two months before, in Butuan City, he had started a “listening tour” where he began preaching the merits of a federal system over our present unitary. People speculated that the man was gearing up for a national position.
Less than two weeks after Butuan, he was in Manila to visit Camp Crame, the Edsa gate of which was converted into a commemoration site for the SAF officers and men killed in the infamous Mamasapano carnage.
Fast forward to the last days of March 2015, and that clan reunion at Cebu’s Casino Espanol.
A group of young social media enthusiasts who called themselves “Viners” approached this writer and asked if they could interview the Davao City mayor after his speech at the Veloso clan reunion. After checking with the ever-present Bong Go who whispered to the mayor’s ear, the request was granted.
The Viners wanted a short quip from the interviewee as response to their series of questions. The responses were called “vines,” which was a hit with the youth, much like “tweets” which the Donald used effectively during his historic ascent to the presidency of the US of A.
Then the kids popped a surprise.
“What can you say about Zayn Malik leaving One Direction?”
Duterte looked at me. What the hell, he must have thought.
One of the Viners explained: Zayn Malik was the lead performer of the famous boy band One Direction, a UK rock band which was at the time the most popular in the world. Days before, he announced that he was leaving the band and striking out on his own.
Duterte got the cue. He waxed about the same thing happening to the Beatles, the Liverpool rock band that was the vogue in our generation. But the Viners requested him to please say something very, very short, a “vine” which was shorter than a “tweet.”
Gamely, the mayor did not show any irritation at the young guys cutting him short as he waxed nostalgic about John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Instead, he looked at the high ceiling of the Casino Espanol, and recovering his wit, said something I could never forget: “Nothing is forever.”
That was his “vine.” Nothing is forever.
I recall this episode in our “impossible” quest to get Rodrigo Duterte, the umpteenth-term mayor of Davao City, to seek-—and finally win, the presidency of the land.
Because these days, the buzz is all about “No-El” and term extension juxtaposed into the revision of the present Constitution to transform government from unitary to federal, and presidential to quasi-parliamentary.
Place these events against the latest survey findings that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte enjoys historically high public acceptance and trust ratings, and the speculation about his remaining in office beyond the presently-mandated single term.
Malacanang has repeatedly maintained that the popular President has no plans of remaining in office a day beyond his elected term. And rightly so.
Believe in the sincerity of the man who on March 27, 2015, when he was yet unsure whether the presidency was an attainable quest, answered a group of kids after some reflection, that “Nothing is forever.”
Duterte is a man imbued with a mission, and he has a high sense of history. He is one who will always mind how history will judge him, because as he once said—nothing is forever.
* * *
I wrote our publisher, Rollie Estabillo, in mid-December last that I would take a break from column writing and resume in January. But the past two weeks have taken some toll on my health. After a bout with a severe cold while in freezing temperatures elsewhere in the world, I simply felt “sick,” so to speak, my appetite weak, because of changes in temperature, from freezing to an uncharacteristic warm New Year in Manila, to single-digit lows here in Taipei. I am just recovering as I write.
Which made me perforce miss some milestones. One was the wake at Heritage Park for a great boss and even greater friend-—Jake Macasaet of Malaya. It’s been a lingering illness for the last few years, and I was witness to how the naturally ebullient Jake transposed in illness to a physically weakened man, never losing his sharp wit, though.
I had to miss the wake of a dear friend, whom I first met at the residence of then UNIDO president Doy Laurel, later to become vice president of the land. Years later, Jake would buy Malaya from another friend, Joe Burgos. And from 2004 to 2010, I wrote twice-a-week columns in his paper.
Hail and farewell, dear Jake.
* * *
Missed also was the 60th birthday celebration of Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez in his native Tagum in Davao del Norte. He was one of a handful who convinced Mayor Duterte, between 9 p.m. of Jan. 8, 2015 to the wee hours of Jan. 9 in the executive lounge of the Marco Polo in Davao City, to take a stab at the “impossible” dream.
Later, Alvarez bought us a round of scotch in the Marco Polo bar, which was where I learned that the mayor had become a teetotaler, drinking water while watching the handful of us getting giddy and a bit inebriated. “Bebot” said the night was quite memorable, and perhaps historic, happy that it almost coincided with his 57th birthday the following day. Now Bebot is 60, with all guns blazing.
Happy Birthday, Mr. Speaker!