Duterte tells Filipinos: Embrace 2018 with hope, determination

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (RICHARD MADELO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte urged Filipinos to welcome the “coming year’s uncertainty” with hope and determination to achieve a “vision of a better and more prosperous future.”

In his message for the New Year, Duterte said that trials and difficulties have hampered the country’s progress in 2017, underlining that the resilience of the people will overcome these challenges.

“I greet the Filipino people, here in the Philippines and in all the corners of the world as we welcome the New Year,” the president said. “Let us embrace this coming year’s uncertainty with a glimmer of hope and remain determined in achieving our vision of a better and more prosperous future.”

“We are at a time when our resolved is being tested by many trials and difficulties. Corruption, criminality, illegal drugs and terrorism have impeded our progress in the past year. However, I remain hopeful that our resilience will enable us to overcome and rise above these challenges as one nation,” he added.

Duterte also called on Filipinos to lean on the lessons and achievements of the past year and to be solid and united in the coming of the New Year.

“I wish all of us a fruitful and blessed new year,” Duterte said.

“As we spend time with our family, friends, and loved ones in turning a new page in our nation’s history, let us draw strength from what we have achieved both as individuals and as a community in the past year. It is my hope that we foster solidarity as we move forward in our pursuit of providing a more comfortable and productive life for all,” the president added.

Earlier, Duterte described 2017 as a “year of sorrow” as natural and man-made adversities left hundreds of people dead.

Among these disasters were the five-month-long Marawi crisis, the devastation of tropical cyclones “Urduja” and “Vinta” and the NCCC mall fire in Davao City.