Cayetano praises Duterte’s ‘firm, fatherly’ hand: ‘PH will endure worst of Covid-19’

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Monday took Monday’s reopening of Congress as another occasion to sing praises for President Rodrigo Duterte, saying the Philippines will weather the Covid-19 crisis with his “firm but fatherly hand.”

“And as I take comfort in the President’s firm but fatherly hand, I am also supremely confident about the ability of this great Nation to endure the worst, as it has endured, overcome, and prospered in the past,” the Taguig lawmaker said.

He delivered a speech as the House opened the second regular session of the 18th Congress on Monday morning. It will be followed by Duterte’s State of the Nation Address at 4 p.m.

“Yes, there is a long, hard road ahead of us, but there is nothing in the Filipino’s character which tells me that we will be unequal to the task,” Cayetano said.

“On the contrary, the Filipino has been tempered and molded by the harshest of fates – that even during the darkest times of war, dictatorship, and economic crises, when the very politicians who were expected to lead the country forswore their duties and shrank from their responsibilities – it was the people themselves who proved that the Philippines will not go down easily,” he said.

“These are the same people who saw the need for change in 2016, and against overwhelming odds, chose the right candidate to lead us. And it is in them that my faith for a better future firmly rests,” he said.

“Let us not delude ourselves with the thought that Congress is Primus Inter Pares – or the First Among Equals,” Cayetano said.

“No, I am here to tell you that it is we – the members of THEIR House – who must rise to the occasion and fulfil the mandate that the Filipino people have entrusted to us. Not just to represent them in these halls, but to truly be one with them in our hearts,” he said.

“It is in this spirit that we need to move together as one nation, move fast and united. United in our goal to protect the weakest among us, and create a better way of life. A better way of life for all Filipinos, not just for the privileged, the rich, and the powerful,” Cayetano said.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)