I would be, God willing, the first president coming from the Left. I am Bayan, and I have been Bayan for the many years I have been mayor. I am not a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines. We follow the path of socialism. But this extremism is not good for me. My being a socialist is left of center, only up to here in the armpit, don't be scared. But my dimensions in life, I am only a poor man's son.

They say that's too ambitious. My God, try me. That's what I told the Davao criminals before. I had them called out, 'Do you want to go out of the city? Do you want to go to Manila? Life is good there. Just go there, you want?' Those who didn't believe me are dead. What do we have to talk about?

"Ang sabi ko sa military pati police (I told the military and police), only criminals, drug-related offenses, I will tell the police and military, ’Go out and kill them.’ Period. Before you become a police, you have the situations where you can really kill. Of course, in the enforcement of the law, because it is really to overcome the resistance and if you find yourself in jeopardy of losing your life, shoot...Ako bahala (I will take care of it). Basta (Just) follow my orders and do it in accordance with the book. Huwag kayo lumabas doon (Don't go beyond what the book says). No abuses. I have the best police force in the entire Philippines, talagang (really) behaved." (Los BaĂąos, March 11, 2016)

If you really want me to be president, this year, after elections, the salaries of the police and military will be doubled...Then they will be given rice so they have something to eat every day. Their children will have free education from kindergarten to high school, only in public school. When they die in the line of duty, they will receive 3 years' worth of salaries...Now, if I double their salaries and they still ask for bribes [makes clucking sound to indicate gunshots].

You know, we are from different tribes. There are Tausug, Maranao, Tagalog, Bicolano, Ilocano. You know, our dialects are different, so is our culture, even our idiosyncracies. But now what remains to hold us together is this Philippine flag. The written manifestation of the flag is the Constitution. I hope that everybody would remain loyal to that flag because if not, if you start to fuck it, you steal the money and let us live in our poverty there, we don't even have enough resources after we give you all our money and you send us a pittance and things are messy, you leave to us a serious problem of maybe a fractured island.)