President Duterte bragged about the state of the country’s airports on late Monday night, Dec. 6, describing them as "at par" with airports elsewhere.
Speaking during his pre-recorded "Talk to the People" public briefing, Duterte once again showed a recent clip of his past activities, which involved the inspection of the Zamboanga International Airport Development Project.
"I was in Zamboanga together with Secretary Tugade at ipinakita niya ‘yung (and he showed me the) Zamboanga City Seaport Development Project at (and) we also inspected the Zamboanga International Airport Development Project. Puro ito magaganda (These are all beautiful])," he said.
"But I’d like to show you the improvements that we have made so far. All of the airports in the Philippines today are beautiful. Saan ka magpunta (Wherever you go), ma-Bicol, its international airport, contactless," noted the President.
"It’s really very beautiful to realize that at least we have been at par with others now itong panahon ngayon (at this time), we are at par with the other airports if not really... Nakita ko ‘yung Bicol, Bicol International Airport, inuna ko talaga (When I saw the Bicol International Airport , I really prioritized it)," he further said.
Duterte, who has been spending the final months of his six-year term inaugurating transportation infrastructure projects left and right, was immensely impressed last October when he saw the completed Bicol gateway, dubbed the "most scenic" airport in the country.
But the following month, he would get to inaugurate the General Santos City Airport and claim afterward that it was even better than the BIA.
By the looks of it, Duterte was also quite happy with the developments at the Zamboanga airport.
He called the projects multi-million endeavors that Filipinos must see, or at least learn about. He previously said that his public briefings were meant to give spotlight to these projects, which were made possible by the taxes collected from the public.
On Monday, Duterte once again touched on the question of why he didn't make his home province of Davao as a priority for such infrastructure projects.
"That is always the price of --- well, delicadeza or just good behavior na tayo kasi ang nandito (we'rethe ones in power), the seat of power is here in Davao sometimes, eh sabi ko panghuli na lang tayo (I said we should be last on the list). That is the better option for everybody."
Duterte said last month that he knew Davao residents--including his own daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio--were upset with him over the lack of local infrastructure projects there.