Duterte assures clean elections in 2022

November 22, 2019

This early, President Rodrigo Duterte assured on Friday clean polls in 2022.

Duterte made the assurance during the inauguration of the coal-fired power plant, Phase 2, of the Sarangani Energy Corp. and presentation of the hydropower project of Siguil Hydropower Economic Zone.

"Maybe it's already difficult for the politicians to cheat in 2022 with the kind of brightness that we are about to experience. We have the energy...," he said in a speech.

"You know it’s too far away to be speculating or even talking about it. But I am on my way out. What I can assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that it will be a clean election during my time," Duterte said.

"I will not allow anybody, friend or foe, alliances with us or on the other side, it will be equal treatment for all. And what I can assure you is that I am warning and I did it last election: Do not, you know, mess up with elections," he stressed.

Duterte said Filipinos should be allowed to vote freely and the votes counted correctly.

"At this early, I am not entering into any alliances that would derail the elections. You can be sure that I will be out of office and I will not stay even a minute longer when my term ends," he said.

National and local elections will be held in May 2022.

Meanwhile, Duterte said since he assumed office in June 2016, power supply in Mindanao greatly improved.

This as he led the inauguration of the Phase 2 of the 105-megawatt Coal-Fired Power Plant of the SEC and the launching of the 14.5-megawatt Siguil Hydropower Project. 

Duterte said SEC Phase 2 would add to the same capacity of SEC Phase 1, which began operations in April this year, providing a combined 210-megawatt baseload power capacity to more than 2.15 million households in Sarangani province and cities of Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Dapitan, Digos, Dipolog, General Santos, Iligan, Kidapawan, Koronadal, and Pagadian, among others.

On the other hand, he noted the Siguil Hydropower Project, Alsons Power’s first venture into renewable energy, is a P4.25-billion hydroelectric power plant at the Siguil River basin in Maasim with a 14.5-megawatt capacity and could provide additional power to General Santos and Sarangani when it begins operations in 2022. Celerina Monte/DMS