The Muntinlupa City government has refuted a viral Facebook post that said President Rodrigo Duterte visited Muntinlupa aboard a motorcycle and told Mayor Jaime Fresnedi to clean Alabang of vendors.
On the Facebook page Du34s/Duterte Force, a post dated July 18 said: “President Duterte rode his motorcycle with a helmet around Muntinlupa to inspect the traffic situation. He saw that there were a lot of vendors causing the traffic in Muntinlupa market.”
“So he rode his motorcycle straight to the office of Fresnedi and the guard at the Mayors office didn’t allow him to enter because he had his helmet on. When he took off his helmet, all his bodyguards started to surround him and Mayor Fresnedi immediately stepped out of his office to welcome Digong,” the post read.
It added, “Digong told Fresnedi he wanted all the vendors out of the streets and inside the market selling area. And so for the last few days, no traffic and extremely peaceful to walk around the market area. Change is possible, fast and effective under Duterte!”
The post has been shared 3,800 times, liked by 11,000 and had 892 comments as of press time.
Muntinlupa City government spokesperson Tez Navarro said while they are excited to have the President in Muntinlupa, the said post was a hoax.
“It’s not true (that he went to the city) but it will be an honor for us if President Duterte will visit Muntinlupa.
We will be delighted to have the President in our city,” Navarro said.
She also denied that President Duterte went to Fresnedi’s office at the city hall.
The post was referring to the clearing operations in Alabang conducted by the city government last July 12, which rid the sidewalks and the Alabang viaduct area of vendors.
Fresnedi, who was in Singapore for the World Cities Summit, ordered City Administrator Allan Cachuela to carry out the operations against ambulant vendors, disobeying vehicles especially tricycles, and all “eyesores” in the city.
The clearing was aimed at freeing sidewalks from obstructions and decongest traffic at the viaduct area.