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Baste Duterte pushes for local Mindanao products, supports federalism


BULUAN, MAGUINDANAO - Sebastian "Baste" Duterte, youngest son of President Rodrigo Duterte, is pushing for Mindanao products including "inaul", the intricately designed fabric born out of the region's longtime weaving practice.

Speaking as guest of honor at the 2nd Inaul Festival cooking show inspired by local palapa delicacies, the young Duterte on Monday said that like him and many constituents of Maguindanao and its leaders, everybody should start identifying with his own culture.

“I'm looking for my identity here, a true Filipino. We have to choose that we are Filipino and not imbibe the traits of foreign influence. We must feel our own culture,” he said in mixed Visayan and Tagalog at the trade expo center where inaul products were displayed.

Duterte was invited by the Provincial Government of Maguindanao led by Governor Esmael Mangudadatu’s son Assemblyman King Jhazzer to help them in the promotion of the said local product.

 

Baste Duterte is welcomed by Maguindanaoan women during the 2nd Inaul Festival in Buluan, Maguindanao on Monday, February 12, 2018. Ferdinandh Cabrera

 

He also toured Buluan Lake and visited the Women’s Peace Center where inaul products are produced and exhibited.

Duterte was amazed at the creativity of Maguindanaon women when he saw the different designs of inaul and how they used this with other materials such as water hyacinths in producing bags.

Tourism officials also showed him some preserved 18th and 19th century-old inaul used by women among the Moro royalty.

“If you want to do business in Davao, just tell me. We have to help one another. We will find a venue for your products there. We are just neighbors. Let's unite in this pursuit,” Duterte said.

The President's son also took the opportunity to make a push for federalism, saying he supports it as well as the Bangsamoro Basic Law as these will bring Mindanaoans the self-rule they have been longing for.

“Let's decide on our own and not leave it for the powerful few who are in position to decide for us. Let our taxes be felt by our local taxpayers,” he said. —KG, GMA News

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