Sec. Dino: “President Duterte is a People Person”

“A people person” is the apt description of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (PRRD) as conveyed by Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino, the presidential assistant for the Visayas as he met the bigwigs of the Cebu media during the quarterly meeting of the Cebu Citizens Press Council (CCPC).

Dino said as a “people person,” this means the country has a President that wants to reach out to the masses which is the very essence of the re-establishment of the Malacañang sa Sugbo.

With the reinstallation of the Malacañang sa Sugbo, the people in the Visayas now have a concrete venue to elevate their concerns making the President “reachable” through their office, Dino said.

The presidential assistant bared that even without a clear office yet with the ongoing renovation of the Malacañang sa Sugbo, “we already received a half sack full of letters from people airing out their concerns.”

By first week of November, the doors to the Malacañang sa Sugbo will be opened to accommodate the public, said Dino who promised to swiftly act on concerns that reach his office.

Dino explained on why the President only appointed one presidential assistant in his administration and no appointees for Luzon and Mindanao. “Our President hails from Mindanao so Mindanao concerns will be personally handled by him while the seat of power is in Luzon which makes it easier to address the problems with all the cabinet secretaries in Manila,” said Dino.

“Remember, the President has no “kapartido” (political allies in the Visayas), he has no governor, no mayor,” said Dino adding that in a sense the President has no political color making it easier for him to reach out to everyone.

“The President ordered me to go to Samar, the poorest of the poor area and to think he lost in Samar,” said Dino.

Dino said he immediately went to Samar and took heed of the concerns there. “I do not want to talk too much, I just listen to their concerns because my role is to bridge the gap between Malacañang and the people,” said Dino.

Our office needs to make a difference as Dino punctuated that the Visayas Region only gets about eight to nine percent of the entire budget while the population in the Visayas accounts for 20 percent of the national population.

Jonji Gonzales, his chief of staff assured the editors of the different print dailies, broadcast personalities, senior reporters, academe and other guests that their office would be “very transparent” with plans to come up with a website to report on their latest updates of actions and initiatives to address concerns in the Visayas.

“We will be a very social agency, said Gonzales adding that it would tap social media platform like Twitter, Facebook, Snapshot and Instagram to inform the public what their office is doing.

Dino however, requested the media to be fair in its reporting as “I am not a politician” as he expressed hopes that there would be no twists and turns by media in interpreting any message of his.(mbcn/fcr/PIA7)