By Argyll Geducos
President Duterte joined the rest of the world in greeting the mothers on their special day, wishing them "happy and contended lives."
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivers his speech during the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) campaign rally at the Garcia-Hernandez Sports and Training Center in Bohol on May 8, 2019. (KING RODRIGUEZ / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
In a video message uploaded on social media, Duterte extended his warmest greetings not just to Filipino mothers, but to all mothers in the world.
"Sa lahat ng mga nanay sa Pilipinas, at sa buong mundo na lang, Happy Mother's Day at I'd wish you a very happy and contented life," he said.
"Mabuhay kayong lahat mga nanay!" he added.
According to the President, he knows how a mother puts herself last in order to provide for her family.
"I know how's it to be a mother because may nanay ako at nakita ko ang hirap at ginhawa ginawa niya para sa pamilya niya (I also have a mother and I saw the hardship and the comfort she gave her family)," he said.
Duterte is known to have the utmost respect for his mother Soledad and repeatedly expressed his desire to be "cremated" and his ashes placed beside her urn. She passed on February 4, 2012 at the age of 95.
He added that his mother was the only one who stood by him.
In February this year, Duterte visited the tomb of his mother to commemorate her seventh death anniversary.
Upon learning that he was leading the elections by a wide margin, he went to his mother's grave and was seen crying. Duterte added that it is his life's biggest sorrow that Soledad did not see him become President.
"My sorrow really is that makita lang naman niya sana ako naging Presidente (I wish she could have seen me become the President)," Duterte said in a speech last April, 2017.
"But, of course, alam ko na hindi rin siya maniwala. Eh pati nga ako eh nung manalo ako (I know she wouldn't believe it. Even I won't believe it if I win)," he added in jest.
Last year, President Duterte said that people will not be hearing him spew expletives anymore after getting a dream visit from his beloved mother.
"So I had a dream two months ago and my mother appeared before me and said, 'Hoy, g***. Tama na ‘yang pagmumura mo ('Hey you idiot. Stop your cursing already),'" he had said.
Unmatched
Malacañang also joined greeting mothers on their special day, saying nobody, not even fathers, can equal the tender, love and care that mothers shower their children from birth.
"Today we pay tribute to all mothers of the world. To them belong the highest accolade there is to bestow," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.
"The sacrifice the mothers make to provide their sons and daughters sustenance, growth and development of their potentials is immeasurable and incomparable," he added.
"From morning until dawn, she struggles to make the child not only happy but protected from any harm, injury or illness. She toils as well for the realization of the offspring’s dream," he continued.
For such virtues, Panelo said the world should give universal recognition to the "women of unsurpassed selflessness, and place them into the pantheon of heroes."