Rody after dark: One last night out

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Before the burden of an entire nation fell on his shoulders, Rodrigo Duterte enjoyed a final night out yesterday, the eve of his inaugural as the 16th president of the Philippines.

At about 3 a.m. yesterday, Duterte took the mini stage of the After Dark Piano Bar, his favorite hangout in this city, and sang George Canseco’s “Ikaw.”

Duterte’s favorite pianist Ponching Fernandez told The STAR that the incoming president even changed the lyrics of “Ikaw” to “kayo” at the start of the song. 

“He only chose to sing ‘Ikaw’ and after that he left in a little while,” Fernandez added.

Duterte reportedly arrived at the bar around midnight and stayed until 3:30 a.m. He spent his time with his former dorm-mates at the YMCA Dormitory in Manila.

He ate his favorite comfort food – fried banana, fried chicken and some pica-pica (bar chow), washed down with a can of Coke Zero. 

Before going to the bar, Duterte spent the whole afternoon of Tuesday rehearsing his inaugural speech. 

Duterte, who is used to giving extemporaneous speeches, practiced delivering his inaugural speech at the Malacañang of the South in Barangay Panacan.

Five-minute speech, less spectacle

Melchor Quitain, Davao’s outgoing city administrator and Duterte’s schoolmate at the San Beda College of Law, reportedly wrote the speech.

The speech reportedly centers on unity among the Filipino people and will last for only five minutes, breaking tradition of long inaugural speeches.

His inauguration rites would also be “less of a spectacle than tradition requires but bellows of the Filipino pride,” according to incoming communications secretary Martin Andanar.

“President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is set to prove to the Filipino people his campaign slogan of implementing ‘real change’ in the country on the very first day of his term as the country’s highest official,” Andanar said in a statement.

Setting aside tradition, Duterte chose to take his oath at Malacañang’s Rizal Hall instead of the more spacious Quirino Grandstand. He said holding the inauguration at Quirino Grandstand would create a traffic jam that can cause inconvenience to the public.

The event will be attended by 627 guests, including Duterte’s family and members of the diplomatic corps. Even members of the Cabinet were not allowed to bring guests.

The inauguration rites will start at 10:30 a.m. with the arrival of outgoing President Aquino and Duterte at Malacañang. 

Duterte will call on Aquino at the President’s Hall sala before the outgoing president is given departure honors at the Palace grounds at 11 a.m.

The actual oath taking ceremony will be held at 11:45 a.m. at the Rizal Hall.

Duterte will take his oath before Supreme Court Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes, his fraternity brother. Both Duterte and Reyes are alumni of the San Beda College of Law and members of the Lex Talionis Fraternitas.

The mass oath taking of Duterte’s Cabinet members will be held at around 12:30 p.m. 

Officials are tight-lipped as to the theme of Duterte’s inaugural speech. Andanar, however, claimed in an earlier interview that Duterte’s speech would be “one of the best speeches ever delivered in the Palace.”

Duterte will be given full military honors at 1:15 p.m., his first as president and commander-in-chief of the 125,000-strong armed forces. 

Duterte will also do away with the customary vin d’honneur for the diplomatic corps and will instead hold a “diplomatic reception” at the President’s Hall sala.

“Why was it changed? Because the president is a simple man,” Andanar said in a previous interview.

“Don’t expect any champagne popping. Don’t expect any caviar or cheese, blue cheese. Expect durian,” he said. 

The first Cabinet meeting will then be held at the Aguinaldo State Dining Room at 2:20 p.m.

Wardrobe and food

Duterte will be wearing a barong after all, despite his previous statement that he preferred not to wear the traditional garb. 

Davao-based fashion house Chardin has created a barong Tagalog made from piña jusi fabric to be paired with black cotton pants.

“His wardrobe is the least of (his) concerns, but he went to fit his barong. He is raring to start work right after the inauguration,” Andanar said.

Last Tuesday, Duterte went to Chardin to try on his barong designed by Boni Adaza. The designer said the barong’s color would be ecru with light brown and beige details to highlight its embroidery, which would depict a pattern iconic of Mindanao’s minority, the Manobo tribe.

“He wanted to incorporate a symbol to represent the 11 minorities in Mindanao. The tribal prints of the Manobo is the least complicated, that’s why we have chosen that. It also shows the president-elect’s simplicity,” Adaza said.

Last month, Duterte said he finds wearing the national garb “corny” and would rather sport something more comfortable.

“I don’t like barong. I don’t like Americana. Maybe I’d wear a kimono,” the incoming president said in jest.

“You know why? Almost all of my friends who died wore barong,” he added.

Malacañang-accredited concessionaire Via Mare will prepare a reception that Andanar said “reflects the simplicity of the incoming administration yet still boasts of the rich Filipino culinary heritage.”

The menu will consist of five types of food namely lumpiang ubod (coconut pith spring roll), pandesal with kesong puti (bread with white cheese made from unskimmed carabao’s milk) and Vigan longganisa (sausage from Northern Ilocandia) grilled on the spot, monggo soup mixed with smoked fish and alugbati (malabar spinach) in demitasse cups, fried saba (Carbava banana) slices and durian tartlet.

For drinks, guests will have a choice of homegrown delights – pine-mango cooler and dalandan juice.

No holiday for Rody

Duterte’s inauguration today is also a regular working day. 

“As per the text message I received from outgoing Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, June 30 is a regular working day,” outgoing Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. told reporters yesterday.

President Aquino said late Tuesday that Ochoa informed him that “the president-elect’s camp didn’t request for it. There doesn’t seem to be a request to do so.”  

But Aquino’s predecessor Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued on June 17, 2010 Proclamation 2085 declaring Aquino’s inauguration at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila as a “special non-working holiday.”

Leni’s separate inauguration

Meanwhile, vice president-elect Leni Robredo is not expected to witness the inauguration of Duterte. 

As of yesterday afternoon, Robredo has not received any invitation from Duterte’s camp to attend his inauguration, her close aide told The STAR. 

Duterte has requested that his inauguration be held separately from that of Robredo supposedly due to limited space at Malacañang.

Robredo will hold her inaugural ceremony at the Quezon City Reception House in New Manila, which will also serve as her office, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

The Philippine National Police is on heightened alert to ensure peace and order during the separate inaugurations of Duterte and Robredo.

According to her staff, Robredo will wear Filipiniana attire during her inauguration.

Her youngest daughter Jillian will hold the Bible when she takes her oath as vice president. 

Duterte’s inauguration, meanwhile, will start at around noon, which means that Robredo has time to witness the next president’s oath taking if she is invited. 

Duterte and Robredo have not formally spoken yet. 

Robredo said she is looking forward to meeting Duterte to personally assure him of her support. 

“I’m very hopeful (that we will meet). I think it’s not something personal to president-elect Duterte, maybe there are more important things that he has to attend to,” she said. 

“I will still try to get an appointment with him. I want to personally assure him of my support,” she added.

But there have been speculations that Duterte is easing out Robredo because of his friendship with outgoing Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., her closest rival in the vice presidential race.  

Robredo won by more than 200,000 votes during the tight vice presidential race that the Marcos camp claimed was fraught with irregularities. 

Marcos was reportedly invited to Duterte’s inauguration.   

Duterte’s close relationship with Marcos was also one of the reasons why he is not inclined to give a Cabinet post to Robredo. Duterte said Robredo would not be part of his Cabinet to avoid hurting Marcos’s feelings. – With Alexis Romero, Helen Flores, Delon Porcalla, Cecille Suerte Felipe