Meeting with the Filipino Community
Tokyo, Japan
October 25, 2016


Right after his arrival at Haneda International Airport, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte went straight to the Palace Hotel Tokyo to meet around 1,600 members of the Filipino community in Japan who warmly welcomed him on his first presidential visit to the country.

President Duterte started his speech by thanking the Japanese people and its government for accommodating many Filipinos and providing them work.

“Ang Japan ho ang pinakanumber one na tumutulong sa bayan natin. Bilyonbilyon po ang binibigay para makatulong sa ating bayan. Kaya again, I said for the second time, salamat po sa inyo,” he said.

The President then recalled what he promised during the campaign period. First of the three fundamental problems that he would like to resolve during his term as president is graft and corruption, which he said had significantly pulled the country down. He explained that he had ordered various government agencies to make the transactions online to ease up the burden of the people.

Illegal drugs and criminality are the two other primary problems of the country according to the President.

“Tingnan ninyo ako sa mata. It was not until I became the President na lumabas na ang totoo sa bayan natin – hundreds of thousand, pati ako natulala... The naked truth was that, we are a nation na napakaraming addict… I’m sure I would be a villain to—ngayon lang, maybe at this time not all Filipinos would talk low… too kindly about my stand. But in the years to come, in next generation, they would know that there is such a thing in this world as the dignity of the Filipino people,” President Duterte remarked.

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