President Duterte met members of the Filipino community in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Wednesday where he renewed his pledge of zero corruption in his government.
“I promised the people…ito seryoso na talaga. Corruption must stop and it will stop during my time,” the Chief Executive said before a crowd of about 1,800 Filipinos at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
Duterte ran in the last presidential election on a campaign agenda of aggressively fighting corruption, criminality, and illegal drugs.
In his speech which was well-applauded by the audience, the President advised overseas Filipino workers in Malaysia to be assertive especially when dealing with personnel from government agencies.
He noted that returning OFWs often fall prey to extortionists in Philippine airports.
According to Duterte, the country has so much concerns and has to put things in order for the nation to attain progress. One of his major initiatives is talking peace with several rebel groups in the country to attain peace and stability.
A federal system of government must be adopted, he said, to remedy Muslim as well as the communist rebellion in the country, which has been ongoing for several decades.
The President also expressed his plans to tackle poverty and give people livelihood, especially the poorest of the poor. He said he is looking at boosting small and medium scale entrepreneurs to create livelihood.
Duterte said Philippines has to improve so that one day, Filipinos would no longer go abroad to earn a living.
(Elena L. Aben)