(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte dismissed the “no-touch” policy which the Presidential Security Group (PSG) wants to impose to protect his health amid the rising cases of local transmission of the coronavirus in the country.
“I want an embrace,” the 74-year old Philippine leader said, stressing that shaking hands is not enough.
“Kung tawagin ako ng Diyos ngayon, sa oras na ito, pupunta ako,” Duterte said.
“Naging presidente na ko, pinakamataas na maabot ng isang tao. Mga anak ko, okay na,” said Duterte who stressed that he is not afraid to die.
The President who is turning 75 on March 28, also dismissed the the advice of his partner, Honeylet Avanceña, for him to take extra precautions and not attend public events and crowded areas for now.
“Trabaho ko yan (That’s my job). No, I will not decline invitations. I will shake hands with everybody,” he said in a late night press briefing on Monday, March 9.
-Duterte to go to Mindanao and Boracay-
I fact, he said that he would soon go to Mindanao “to visit my dead soldiers, and congratulate my warriors.”
“Namatayan ako ng apat na sundalo,” he said referring to those killed in the recent clash of the Philippine military with pro-Islamic State militants in Maguindanao.
The President said he would also go on his usual routine and even push through with his scheduled trips around the country to promote tourism, the first of which is in Boracay.
He even dared in jest Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat to swim with him there.
“Sige punta ako, pero maligo tayo. So I also have something to look at. If you look at the open sea, it’s endless. Mabubulag ka,” he said.
Duterte said that he had ordered the cleaning and rehabilitation of the Boracay Island, and he also wanted to see its condition now.
“Ako, I’m going there because I declared Boracay a land reform area,” he said.
