President Rodrigo Roa Duterte
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will make a quick Cebu visit late this afternoon to especially speak with military and police personnel who were involved in the fight against Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) members who entered Bohol province last month.
He will also be joining government troops in a boodle fight before he leaves Cebu for another engagement, according to a schedule released Saturday by the Philippine Information Agency in Central Visayas (PIA-7).
Duterte will come from Davao City and is expected to arrive at the Mactan Cebu Benito Ebuen Air Base at around 5:30 p.m.
An advisory posted last night on the PIA website said that the President will be greeted by top officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Central Command (Centcom), the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) and the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, among others.
Side boys honor
The advisory said that Mr. Duterte will be given “side boys honor” upon his arrival at the airbase.
His welcome party will include Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino; Lt. Gen. Oscar Lactao, Centcom Chief; Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, PRO-7 director; Commodore Loumer Bernabe, commander of the Naval Forces Central; Maj. Gen. Jose Mirandilla Jr., commander of the 2AD; lawyer Steve Dicdican, the general manager of MCIA; and Senior Supt. Roberto Quiboyen, commander of the PNP Aviation Security Command in Central Visayas.
Mr. Duterte is scheduled to engage in the traditional “talk to men” with around 500 army, navy and air force personnel and policemen including troops who engaged ASG members in a gunfight in Bohol province at the hangar of the 220th Airlift Wing located at the 2nd Air Division’s headquarters.
A brief photo opportunity and boodle fight with Central Visayas peacemakers will follow the President’s talk.
Today’s Cebu visit will already be the third for Mr. Duterte this year.
He first visited the province in January for a private engagement and in March to lead the groundbreaking ceremony for the proposed Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway in Cordova town.
But is not the first time that he will be addressing men in uniform here. He last spoke with government troops in Centcom on August 2016, about a month after he assumed the country’s presidency.