I just want to sleep on my birthday – Duterte

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — He is turning 74, but President Duterte is not holding any party for his birthday today, saying he would rather sleep the day away.

“Historically, ayaw ko talagang mag-celebrate ng birthday. Gusto ko sa bahay lang matulog ako (I don’t really want to celebrate my birthday. I just want to stay home and sleep). And if there’s somebody that is really welcome to me, ‘yung mga anak ko, pati ‘yung apo ko (that will be my children and my grandchildren),” the President said during the campaign rally of the Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) in Koronadal, South Cotabato the other night.

The President has also shunned holding any activity at Malacañang or anywhere in Luzon and the Visayas, and opted to spend the week here to attend to several engagements in some areas in Mindanao.

It seems nothing can make the President change his mind, not even the singing of “happy birthday” by at least 10,000 people who attended the campaign rally.

In jest he said his birthday is on March 32, and later said it falls on Nov. 1. 

Even when he was mayor, Duterte had never thrown lavish parties to celebrate his birthday.

He usually makes himself unavailable every March 28 and would spend the day with his family – his children and grandchildren.

And if there is one group that Duterte usually spent his natal day with, it is the cancer-stricken children at the House of Hope, which he supports.

He said he doesn’t mind if his former wife Elizabeth Zimmerman and his long-time partner Cielito Avanceña would ignore him on his birthday.

“Iyong mga asawa ko maski hindi nila ako pansinin OK lang. May galit man sila sa akin, so mag-inom na lang ako ng tubig pakalma (It would be OK if my wives will snub or get angry with me. I’ll just drink water to calm myself),” he said.

He recalled how his late parents, the former Davao governor Vicente and Soledad Duterte, celebrated his birthday when he was young.

He said his mother would just give him some money to watch a movie, dress a native white chicken and daub its blood on his forehead in a sign of the cross.

“And that was it for the day. Tapos manood ako ng sine. Magpagupit ka na tapos mag-sine. Ganun ‘yan (then I would watch a movie, get a haircut first then go to the moviehouse. That’s all)… as far as I can remember. Kumbaga sa eroplano pa sa (Just like an airplane stuck on the) runway, matagal kami sa runway bago kami naka-lift (It took us a long time to take off). Life started to be nice to us ’nung malaki na ako (when I was a grown up),” he said.

Duterte said at the time his family was financially constrained and he could not hold parties for his birthday. 

He said he was sort of blaming fate every time his birthday came around.

“Every time mag-birthday ako, para bang nagtampo ako sa panahon. That’s the word. Parang nagtampo ako sa kahirapan namin na I took it against the time na hindi ako maka-celebrate ng birthday ko,” he said.

Until now, he still feels bad about it and that’s why he refuses to celebrate his birthday.

“Because that was also what my father was doing. He really hated ‘yung mga… ako ayaw ko rin eh,” the President said.

Duterte said this has always been his sentiment and that he takes it personally.

“Corny nga but it’s a little bit weird na hindi talaga ako nag-party (that I don’t like parties). I do not like it. And the better that it’s just left unsaid … ’yan ang nakaugalian ko eh (that’s what I’ve been used to),” he said. 

“But it’s no longer mine. It’s no longer the appropriate time for me. I’m 74, I expect to more or less pagbaba ko, 76, 77. After that I want to…” Duterte said.

The President said there is nothing more he could ask for from God, given his age and status in life. 

Passing grade

Duterte gave himself a passing grade for his performance during the first three years of his administration.

He said he has complied with his “basic” promises, including his fight against illegal drugs and the improvement of the delivery of basic services.

“I will be through in three years. For me, if I rate myself now, I’m about five or six,” he said at the same event, as he enumerated his priorities, including his controversial war on illegal drugs. 

“It’s very hard to really develop if there is no law and order and everything is… everybody is in a quandary… And we have, I think being swallowed by the biggest threat of them all and that is the drug problem which is worldwide,” Duterte said. 

Duterte said human rights advocates who accused him of condoning extra-legal killings “were making a big hoot” about the drug war. 

“But they know that drugs would really destroy a nation,” he said adding, “Do not destroy the young and feed them with drugs to no end because I will really kill you.”

Duterte cited his campaign against corruption, which has resulted in the firing of several officials, including some Cabinet members.

He mentioned the enactment of laws on universal health care and free education. 

“I told you that… if and when I become a president, someday I will work for universal healthcare, everything will be for free. The government will shoulder everything... I already fulfilled it. It’s already there,” he said. 

“Universal education, I fulfilled that. It’s already there... I said law and order, I fulfilled it. I did not promise anything that I could not give,” he added. 

Duterte admitted he has not yet fulfilled his promise to ease traffic woes along EDSA.

He said he decided to “forget” about the issue after a female senator warned that the funds for efforts to solve the traffic problem are prone to corruption. – With Alexis Romero