Former President Rodrigo Duterte told the media not to believe Vice President Sara Duterte’s announcement that three Dutertes, the former president and the incumbent mayor and congressman of Davao City, will be seeking Senate seats next year.
The former president, quoted by ABS-CBN News, also said the Vice President is “just like him,” and was “baiting.”
“You believe Inday? She will have her fun with you. Where have you seen a father and his two sons all running for the Senate? Don’t take Inday’s bait because she is just like me,” Duterte said.
Duterte and his daughter were both last-minute candidates for national positions and had initially filed candidacies for mayor of Davao City.
On June 25, Vice President Duterte disclosed that her father and two brothers Baste and Paolo would be running for senator in 2025, saying that was what her mother told her.
The Vice President’s pronouncements revived discussion of dynastic politics in the Philippines and the failure of Congress, also dominated by political clans, to pass legislation to enable a ban on political dynasties laid down in the 1987 Constitution.
Duterte said it would be “bizarre” to have him and his two sons in the Senate.
But the Duterte patriarch said he no longer has the political capital, nor the funds, to reenter the political arena after his term ended in 2022.
He also said “”my time is over.”
“I will not return to politics. I do not have money or anything else. Maybe all that’s left of me is my confidence,” the former president said.
Duterte also said he does not know the reason for his daughter’s resignation from the Marcos Jr Cabinet.
“I really don’t know the reason, I don’t talk to my daughter… Sara has her own mind, we do not talk about her work.,” Duterte said.