mayor | The Adobo Chronicles

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – Many Filipinos want him to run for president, but he continues to assert that he is not interested. He is Rodrigo Duterte, mayor of Davao, a major city in the Philippines’ island of Mindanao.

He is oftentimes called “The Punisher,” noted for tolerating extrajudicial killings of alleged criminals. He always talks tough and does not hold back on his public comments, even if they seem to be inappropriate coming from an elected official.

Well, today, in a television interview by openly-gay host Vice Ganda, Duterte admitted he used to be gay, but that he is “now reformed.” Duterte was a guest on Vice Ganda’s talk show, “Gandang Gabi.”

His admission shocked even his closest supporters who always looked up to him as a role model for Filipino macho men.

But his comments were welcomed by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) which took Duterte’s statement as an opportunity during Sunday masses all over the country to remind the faithful that homosexuality is a choice, and that gay men and women can be reformed, just like Duterte.

MAKATI CITY, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles®) – In a move that shocked both his critics and supporters, Vice President Jejomar Binay today announced that he was withdrawing from the 2016 Philippine presidential race.

Until recently, Binay was the only declared candidate to succeed President NoyNoy Aquino whose six-year-term expires in 2016. The vice president had consistently held the lead in all polls among all likely presidential candidates. Until this week.

The most recent polls now show that Senator Grace Poe has overtaken Binay’s lead.

Embarrassed that a woman and neophyte in politics has displaced him from the lead, Binay said that he is no longer interested in becoming president. Instead, he announced that he would be seeking reelection as mayor of Makati City when the current term of his son, JunJun, expires.

“It would be a great honor on my part to once again become the chief executive of the richest city in the country. I know I can easily win a reelection because my family has practically established itself as the unbeatable political dynasty in Makati.”

The vice president is a former mayor of Makati and so was his wife, Elenita.

Critics, however, are speculating that once he becomes mayor again, he will secede from the Philippines and declare Makati as an independent Republic.

Talk about not just ‘wall street ‘ but ‘walled country.’