President Duterte could not help but give a "snappy salute" to Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Andres Centino for the government's recent success against the communist insurgency as well as the ongoing relief operations for typhoon Odette victims.
Duterte hailed Centino during the latest pre-taped "Talk to the People" public briefing, which was aired Tuesday, Jan. 18.
Before this, Centino, who attended the briefing via Zoom, made a presentation to the President about the AFP's humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in typhoon-affected areas.
He also highlighted their neutralization of Menandro Villanueva aka “Bok", whom he said was the longest-serving secretary of the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee and the commander of National Operations Command of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
"For all of these achievements so far that you have gathered throughout the... It’s a never-ending job for you hanggang ngayon (up to now), but nagpapasalamat ang tao at ako mismo nagpapasalamat rin (the people are thanking you and I myself are also thanking you). Keep up the good work and you have my snappy salute also," Duterte told Centino.
"Salamat pud, sir," replied Centino, who took over the helm at AFP only last November.
The President told Centino how he witnessed firsthand the assistance rendered by government forces to typhoon victims mere days after the disaster. 'Odette' plowed through areas in the Visayas and Mindanao roughly a month ago.
"General, I was on the ground about two days after the typhoon or was it the day after? Nakita ko ‘yung mga sundalo at ‘yung mga (I saw the soldiers and the) --- ‘yung (the) Philippine Navy and Air Force, all of them participating in the relief operations and the --- helping the people move about, those with no house because their houses were really destroyed," he said.
"And I would like to reiterate that in behalf of the people of the Philippines, I would like to commend and salute the AFP for their --- for their toil. It was really not --- it was a toil to be there helping everybody. So with the added feather in the cap of neutralizing the communist leaders," he added.
Referring to Villanueva, Duterte said, "For the longest time ‘yung si ano was the KOMMID (Komisyong Mindanao)... The Mindanao is the ano, ‘yung overall umbrella ng (of) NPA. What the AFP achieved was to --- they neutralized --- he was the longest time the leader, and the operations of the NPA in Mindanao."
The NPA is the military wing of the CPP.
Centino also reported to the President the neutralization of Norodin Hassan, the head of the DI Hassan Group tagged in the recent bus bombing in Aleosan, Cotabato.