More than her family name, it is Mindanao’s frustration with the national government that continues to drive Vice President Sara Duterte’s overwhelming support in the south, a veteran Davao-based journalist says.
Serafin “Jun” Ledesma Jr., a longtime Davao-based journalist and commentator, stressed that is the memory of a time when bridges were built, airports were upgraded, and the south finally felt it was more than an afterthought to the so-called “Imperial Manila.”
During an interview on DZRH News program Special on Saturday on May 9, Ledesma said Mindanaoans had hoped that with the current administration, the region would again receive the kind of budget priority and infrastructure attention it experienced under former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Nung panahon ni Duterte, napakaraming project na naibigay sa Visayas at saka sa Mindanao in terms of bridges, airport upgrades, etcetera,” he said.
“It’s not because of the popularity of Vice President Sara. She became extremely popular in Visayas and Mindanao on account of the government neglect,” Ledesma said of the Vice President.
He pointed to the defunding of the Mindanao Railway Transportation System—whose first segment was to connect Digos, Davao del Sur to Tagum—as one of the most painful examples of broken promises to the region under the current administration.
Ledesma also flagged the stalled Davao City-Samal Island bridge project, which he said faces funding shortfalls in its local counterpart component.
On agriculture, he argued that lowering rice import tariffs from 35% to 15% has effectively undercut local farmers, with imported rice entering the market at around 20 pesos per kilo against a local market price of roughly 60 pesos. “Ang sinasakal mo naman at pinapatay mo nang dahan-dahan ay ang ating mga magsasaka,” he said.
Ledesma said Mindanao contributes far more to the national economy than it ever gets back—a disparity he called “classic injustice.” “It’s purely government neglect,” he said when asked whether the region’s growing anti-national government sentiment stems from policy failures or sympathy for a fellow Mindanaoan.
