DAVAO CITY”•President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday all government employees should use Philippine-made products as he bragged about his Ibarra-brand watch that was made in the Philippines.
The watch has foreign parts but was assembled in the Philippines.
“It’s an elegant one. Very nice, and I’m going to wear it proudly as a Philippine product,” Duterte said.
He said a friend gave the watch to him but asked him to pay for it.
“He sent it to me,” Duterte said.
“He said ‘I will not give it to you because that is graft and corruption. Just use it and if it is worth your while and durable, pay for it.”
Duterte has told the generals in the police and military to wear Marikina-made boots to help the shoe industry.
He said the shoes he would be wearing on his trip to Russia was Marikina-made and very durable.
He said he hoped that, someday, all the shoes issued to the police and military would be made in Marikina.
“All we have to do is to fund them [the shoemakers in Marikina], buy them the machines and they can make good shoes,” Duterte said.
He said Filipinos must promote their own products since no foreign country would promote them in behalf of the Filipinos.