PRRD'S LEADERSHIP
23 April 2025
LEADERSHIP is power without wielding it, was how RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE - without intending to be - became primus inter pares.
As President, he belonged to the people, the masa.
Yet, it was he who brought together all 5 of them presidents, deferring to collective wisdom and showing by example that nation-building first requires POLITICAL MATURITY to achieve unity, from the highest echelon of government to the poorest in the hinterlands.
Below is a post from Ching Lu.
WHEN THE NATION STOOD AS ONE
There is no other president in this country’s history who had the courage, the humility, and the vision to summon all who came before him - and thank them, not shame them. 🤭
In July 2016, just days after taking his oath as the 16th President of the Republic, Rodrigo Roa Duterte did something rare...he summoned the elders and called for unity.
With a nation watching and the world listening, he convened the National Security Council, bringing together all the living former presidents of the Republic at that time - Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph "Erap" Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III - inside Malacañang Palace.
It was a picture of rare solidarity, and a gesture of respect to the past, even as he carved his own future.
The mood was sober, the stakes monumental. The West Philippine Sea loomed as the silent elephant in the room. Then suddenly, Digong turned to his predecessor and did not mince words :
“President Aquino won for us the case. Thank you very much Sir for giving us the ace card.” he said to PNoy.
In that moment, Duterte acknowledged not just the arbitral ruling - but the power of continuity in a fragmented democracy.
But then came another bold move :
Duterte asked the elder statesman, the ever-stoic Fidel V. Ramos, to serve as special envoy to China. The cigar-smoking general, who once helped restore democracy in 1986, agreed with calm gravitas.
“Let President Ramos navigate. This is our position. This is what we have. We will not go out of it. We will talk,” he remarked.
It was a day that reminded Filipinos of what true leadership could look like - one that listens to wisdom, reaches across divides, and keeps the national interest above political wounds.
In that rare, almost mythic gathering inside the Palace, five eras of powers sat at one table. There was no red or yellow, no insult nor arrogance - only a rare stillness in the storm of politics. A moment when the Philippines remembered how to stand as one.
It was, perhaps, the last time the country truly witnessed such unity at the highest levels because no one else dared to build bridges in a time when burning them was easier.
For that, and for all he gave - Rodrigo Rody Duterte will be remembered not just as a president, but as the greatest leader the Republic has ever known. 👊
#BringHimHome
#PrayForTheFormerPresident
#GodSaveThePhilippines
