Duterte prepares for transition with PNoy: spokesman
Joel Guinto, ABS-CBN News
Rodrigo Duterte and President Benigno Aquino. File/Composite.
DAVAO CITY - Presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte has begun forming a transition team and is banking on "goodwill" with incumbent President Benigno Aquino's democracy icon mother to ensure that it will proceed smoothly, his spokesman said Tuesday.
Aquino had made last-ditch attempts to dissuade the public from supporting Duterte, drawing parallels between his rise and that of Adolf Hitler.
READ: PNoy parallels rise of Duterte and Hitler
"May utang na loob kay Cory, that will be discussed. There is a lot of goodwill that can be nurtured to have good relations with the outgoing administration," Duterte spokesman Peter Laviña told reporters.
Former President Corazon Aquino had appointed Duterte as vice-mayor OIC of Davao City after a military-backed revolt restored democracy in February 1986. This started the Duterte family's decades-long reign in the city.
The Duterte transition team has not made contact with Aquino government officials, Laviña said.
Laviña said the body would be composed of four teams:
- an over-all committee,
- a policy group that would draft his plans in his first 100 days,
- a selection committee that will select his cabinet, and
- an inauguration committee that will prepare ceremonies for his assumption into office.