President Rodrigo Duterte met with presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos at the Palace on March 20 and shared his experiences as the country’s chief executive with the former senator.
This was disclosed by Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, who said the President did most talking during the conversation with Marcos.
Go described it as a long talk as the President was in high spirits.
“In fact, in 80 percent of the discussions, it was the President talking,” Go said.
The former presidential aide also said Duterte gave Marcos, the frontrunner in all pre-election survey results, some advice and expressed his desire to see his projects continued by the next president.
Go would not say if this meant that Duterte would endorse Marcos, whom he once described as “spoiled” and a “weak leader.”
“Let us just wait if the President will have an announcement on this,” said Go, adding that he cannot speak on behalf of the President regarding this issue.
He said the Malacanang meeting was arranged by the leaders of the PDP-Laban wing led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.
Earlier, the Cusi faction had announced their support for Marcos.
Duterte is the national chairman of the Cusi faction of the PDP-Laban.
Marcos’ running mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, is the President’s daughter and is running under the Lakas-CMD.
Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said Duterte and Marcos had a “productive meeting,” with the outgoing president sharing his six-year governance experiences and insights with the presidential aspirant.
“It was a cordial and productive meeting, where the President shared his experiences and insights as an outgoing Chief Executive with the presidential aspirant,” Andanar said.
However, Andanar said he had no idea whether Duterte is personally supporting Marcos’ candidacy despite the endorsement from PDP-Laban.
“This is a clear decision of the party but it is not clear if this is also what President Duterte wants,” Andanar said.
Meanwhile, two more political parties entered into an alliance to support the UniTeam of Marcos and Duterte.
At the BBM Headquarters in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday, Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) secretary general Thompson Lantion and Reform Party (RP) president James Layug signed an agreement to be an ally in advancing the UniTeam of Marcos and Duterte.
The National Unity Party (NUP) on Thursday also endorsed Marcos’ presidential bid.
