Choose ‘best’ people for Senate seats, Duterte urges OFWs

President Rodrigo Duterte urged overseas Filipino workers to choose only the “best” people to fill the 12 Senate seats up for grabs in the May 2019 midterm elections.

Duterte made the call during his meet and greet with the Filipino community in Israel at a hotel in Jerusalem on Sunday evening (early Monday morning in Manila) where he was accompanied by potential senatorial candidates of the ruling PDP-Laban party.

They included Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go, Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Francis Tolentino, and presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.

The President stopped short of endorsing them to the 1,400-strong OFW crowd even as he vouched for their qualities.

“Pero sa totoo lang gusto ninyo ng worker? Iyong tao na totoo. Congressman pwede kayong mamili maski sino pero ‘yung mga senator lalo na, tutal malayo naman sa inyo, choose the best,” Duterte said.

“Ngayon hindi ako magsabi na sila ‘yon. Marami pang Pilipinong dadating diyan na tatakbo pero please naman, maawa naman kayo sa bayan ninyo. Makikita mo naman ‘yon kung anong ginagawa nang iba,” he added.

Duterte, who enjoys majority support in the Senate and House of Representatives, has said he is committed to have a clean and honest 2019 elections which will also serve as a referendum on the first three years of his mandated six-year presidency.

Among the measures the President said he will implement during the election season include the establishment of checkpoints nationwide and the limiting of the number of security guards and firearms of candidates. — BM, GMA News