President Rodrigo Duterte is not saying “no” to running for vice president in the 2022 elections, according to Palace spokesman Harry Roque on Thursday.
Roque made the remarks after the President said he was resisting calls for a possible vice-presidential bid.
In an interview with Pastor Quiboloy, the President also reiterated his opposition to the prospect of his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, running for president after his term ends next year.
“The President’s words are clear. I don’t need to construe,” Roque during his regular press briefing.
“(Duterte) said he does not want to run but he did not say that he will no longer run for vice president.”
The spokesman stressed that there is no legal impediment for Duterte to join the vice-presidential race, just like what he did in the 2016 elections when he filed his candidacy for president as a substitute in December 2015.
“The Omnibus Election Code allows for that,” Roque said.
Duterte’s party, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), however, has formally urged him to run for vice president in the 2022 national elections.
Meanwhile, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said he is not against President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo.
Domagoso clarified this during a live Facebook update on Wednesday night after an alleged Viber conversation of Manila Public Information Officer Julius Leonen with unknown individuals was posted by Facebook user Expose Philippines at about 1 p.m. on Wednesday.
Leonen allegedly confirmed that Manila will soon announce Domagoso’s 2022 presidential bid while supposedly hinting that the government had lost public support.
“For the record, this chat is fake, I never said those things, and that chat never existed,” Leonen said.
He said the fake Viber account used his profile photo taken from his personal account with the obvious intent of discrediting him.
“I learned about it at about 3 p.m. when I started to receive chat messages. The post was deleted about one to two hours after I issued a statement,” Leonen said.
Earlier, Roque said Duterte is considering five possible successors — his daughter, Pacquiao, Marcos, Senator Christopher Go and Moreno.
Roque, however, said the President is still not in favor of his daughter running for President in 2022, so he prefers the four others who are close allies.
Among the five, only Pacquiao and Go are members of PDP-Laban. Marcos is a member of the Nacionalista Party, Moreno is with the National Unity Party, and Duterte-Carpio heads her own regional party, the Hugpong ng Pagbabago.