Duterte Volunteers Working Double Time

WITH the May 9 elections looming closer ahead, volunteers for Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte are now giving more time in reproducing campaign materials for their favorite Bisaya presidential candidate.

Pete Tejero, co-founder and overall chairman of Rodrigo Duterte Supporters – Cebu Chapter (RDS-Cebu), said they have to work doubly hard nowadays because the election is less than a month away.

“We have to work double time now because the election is fast-approaching,” Tejero said. “Aside from the time pressure, we have to make use of the now overflowing materials we have at our disposal.”

Tejero said donations have been pouring in and it would be a shame to the donors to just leave the materials idly lying there.

“We have been endlessly receiving donations. Like these bags of paints, we don’t even know from whom these came from. We just receive them and just thank the person who delivered them,” said Tejero while showing the plastic bag full of Tulco paints.
Most of the donors, according to Tejero, don’t want to be acknowledged and want to remain anonymous.
Without any compensation or monetary exchange, RDS-Cebu is reproducing Duterte campaign materials using recycled tarpaulins and empty sacks of flour. They are also printing t-shirts and stickers.

A brainchild of co-founder Jo Arne Nugas, RDS-Cebu was born on Sept. 15 last year merely as an online community for Duterte supporters in Cebu.

The group started with five pioneering members, but surprisingly reached 600 in just a span of three days.
“We really didn’t expect to draw a lot of people in just so short a time,” Tejero said.

RDS-Cebu now has over 21,000 members, 10 percent of whom are non-Cebu residents including overseas Filipino workers.
Tejero was appointed overall chairman of the group and Nugas as Facebook page admin. Other core leaders of the RDS-Cebu are Rainier Montero (logistics), Carlo Aldemita (planning), Ma. Theresa Flonteras (finance), and Dr. Orly Holganza Ruiz (security).