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Friday, March 29, 2024

Let a thousand opposition presidentiables run–Palace

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Malacañang on Tuesday challenged the opposition to field a thousand candidates against whoever will be the administration’s standard bearer in the 2022 presidential elections.

“May there be a thousand candidates for the opposition,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.

Roque issued the statement in response to the call of Vice President Leni Robredo for a single opposition candidate in next year’s national polls to increase his or her chances of winning against President Rodrigo Duterte’s anointed one.

Robredo, chairperson of the Liberal Party, said fielding several candidates will be impractical since Duterte is “very popular” among Filipinos.

Duterte earlier raised the possibility of fielding Senator Christopher Lawrence Go, his former long-time aide, for the presidential race.

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The President has repeatedly dissuaded his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, from listening to groups urging her to gun for the highest position.

A “Duterte Pa Rin Movement”—led by former Presidential Communications Operations Office undersecretary Bonito Padilla—was recently launched to convince Duterte-Carpio to seek the presidency.

Roque, however, denied the Palace had a hand in the movement.

“He is a former PCOO official. Meaning, he is now a private citizen. Malacañang is not behind that,” Roque said.

Duterte-Carpio has been consistently leading pre-elections surveys for possible presidential candidates in the 2022 polls.

But the President said the thankless job of leading the country was not fit for a woman, and that he wants to spare his daughter from the hardship and constant criticisms that come with the highest government post.

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