Duterte shuns VIP treatment at Manila airport

President Rodrigo Duterte shunned special treatment usually accorded to Chief Executives at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as he headed towards his hometown, Davao City, for the Hari Raya festival.

Photos posted by the Presidential Communications Office show Duterte undergoing security checks before he boarded a commercial flight via Philippine Airlines (PAL).

His flight departed Manila at 9 p.m. Thursday and arrived in Davao at 10:45 p.m.

In his first Cabinet meeting held shortly after his inauguration as president, Duterte instructed his Cabinet to shun priority treatment at airports.

He said he wanted to do away with the presidential no-fly-zone rule whenever the chief executive flies in and out of the country’s airports.

"There is a practice actually... the presidential take off or landing, may 30 minutes na hiatus. So nobody takes off or land kapag the presidential plane (flies)," Duterte said.

"I want this to stop. We should not be treated differently from the other suffering Filipino passengers," he added. — Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez/RSJ, GMA News