DAVAO CITY – Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio bade her city goodbye on Thursday in a valedictory address, highlighted at how she was able to eliminate debt.

She said she was leaving ''for a greater challenge... for our beloved country'' to run for the vice presidency in the 2022 national election. Her running mate is former Senator Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr.

In a recorded valedictory and State of the City Address, the mayor said: ''I was once again called to take on the challenge to serve Davao City (in 2016)... It was the same year when the Philippines elected Davao's beloved mayor, Rodrigo Duterte, to the presidency.''

Duterte turned the city into one of the richest, whose total assets of P23 billion in 2020 for eighth place, adapting the name of the child abuse victim to its child welfare hotline and assistance program which “dramatically” reduced the number of child abuse complaints

with no child deaths reported due to abuse and maltreatment.

“This year, we have allocated P46.706 million in the 2022 budget to cover the remaining loan balance and by the end of the first half of the calendar year 2022, Davao City will be debt-free,” she said.

Obstacles nealy undid Davao City's road to progress ''with the COVID-19 pandemic the greatest of them'', said Duterte-Carpio. DMS