“The world lost a great leader,” says Duterte
(Eagle News) – Former president Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter Vice-President Sara Duterte honored and remembered the former prime minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, for his kindness to the Filipino people, and noting how “the world lost a great leader” with his demise.
The 77-year old Duterte had formed a special bond with Abe, 67, referring to him as “more than a brother.”
The former president said Abe was a “dear friend” and the first foreign leader to visit the Philippines when was the president, and was also the very first to visit his home in Davao City.
He expressed his “deep regret and profound sadness” on the untimely death of his friend and extended his condolences to Abe’s wife Madame Akie and the family on this tragedy.
“During my presidency, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was not just the first foreign leader to visit the Philippines after my election but was also the only foreign leader to visit my home in Davao City,” former President Duterte said after he learned of Abe’s passing.
“For this, I will always hold him close to my heart and cherish the moments we have shared together,” he said.
Duterte remembered how Abe and his wife visited his “humble home” in Davao City where he stayed for about 45 minutes, and was served local rice cakes, “biko,” suman, kutsinta, and other kakanin as well as munggo soup.
Duterte also showed the Japanese leader the room where he sleeps, and the kulambo or mosquito net which he uses.
They also exchanged gifts and tokens. He also gave a tour of Davao City to Abe and offered him local fruits such as durian. Abe even tasted the delicacy after Duterte offered it to him.
Abe then said he was “very honored to be the first guest and to be received by President Duterte in Davao.”
He said he chose the Philippines as “the first destination of my overseas visits” that year 2017 as a “demonstration of the fact that I place much emphasis on my relationship with President Duterte and with the Philippines.”
-Condolences, mourning on Abe’s untimely demise-
As he expressed his condolences over Abe’s demise, Duterte said he joins the “Japanese people in mourning his loss and in condemning the senseless act of violence.”
Duterte’s daughter, Vice-President Duterte, also conveyed her “deepest condolences” to Abe’s family and the Japanese people for Abe’s untimely death.
“His death is a shocking tragedy that exposes the dark side of humanity. The world lost a great leader,” Duterte-Carpio said.
“He was a strong ally and a friend of the Philippines, and the immensity of his love and kindness for the Filipinos has been demonstrated many times over through Japan’s support for our growth and development,” she said in a statement on Friday.
On Monday, July 11, she posted photos of her visit to the official residene of the Ambassador of Japan to the Philippines Kazuhiko Koshikawa to personally extend her condolences to the Japanese people over the untimely death of Abe.
“Binisita po natin ang official residence ni Ambassador of Japan to the Philippines Kazuhiko Koshikawa ngayong hapon upang ipaabot ang ating personal at taos-pusong pakikiramay sa pagkamatay ni dating Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,” she said in a Facebook post.
“Ang pagmamahal at pagpapahalaga ng dating Prime Minister sa Pilipinas ay hinding-hindi natin makakalimutan,” she said.
Abe was killed on Friday, July 8, while he was giving a speech to support his party in Nara ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
The man who killed him used a home-made gun.
Mourners lined the streets of central Tokyo on Tuesday to bid farewell to assassinated former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, as his hearse was driven past political landmarks after a private funeral.
The country’s longest-serving prime minister was gunned down on Friday while campaigning, in a crime that rattled Japan and prompted an outpouring of international condemnation and grief.
(Eagle News Service with a report from Agence France Presse)