The President’s daughter has spoken.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has said a tandem with her father will be unlikely in the 2022 elections, when President Rodrigo Duterte’s six-year term ends, as she recalled telling her father that she “does not intend” to seek the country’s top post.
Duterte-Carpio said Monday she “does not understand” why Malacañang and opposition coalition 1Sambayan are exchanging comments about her supposed plans for next year’s elections.
“I do not understand why 1Sambayan and the Palace are playing a slapping game about a Duterte-Duterte tandem. The President already said he does not believe I am fit to be President because I am a woman. Period,” she told ABS-CBN News.
The 43-year-old mayor appeared to be referring to pitches made by Presidential Chief Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, who often harps on her possible running for the top political post of the land.
In the Senate, while still eligible to seek re-election in the Senate, Sen. Panfilo Lacson disclosed that he will only either run for president or retire from politics.
“It’s between gunning for presidency or retirement, that’s what I’m thinking. Returning to the Senate, I already had three terms, I see the legislative work, it seemed I can say, and this is me talking to myself — I would say ‘I’ve done my part, when it comes there. So many frustrations,” Lacson told reporters in a Zoom interview.
According to Lacson, Senate President Vicente Sotto III told him about his political plans.
“He is determined for VP post. He asked me if I have the appetite actually. I informed him I am no longer considering going back to the Senate. He urged me not to close my doors and that he has also been doing and my name has been coming out. We talked that at the proper time, the two of us will join (the race),” related Lacson.
At present, Lacson insisted his joining the presidential bandwagon remained tentative.
Meanwhile, on the senator’s statement that he is inclined to reject their invitation, 1Sambayan convenor Howard Calleja said: “We in 1Sambayan believe in unifying the opposition. We want to unite those who are against dictatorship, authoritarianism, extrajudicial killings, suppression of human rights, and subservience to foreign interests which are the hallmarks of the Duterte administration.”
“We still remain open to discuss things with Sen. Ping and other well-meaning individuals. However, those who do not believe in a united opposition are of course free to chart their own course,” Calleja added.
1Sambayan also said it would unveil on Independence Day the final list of nominees it would be presenting to the people as possible presidential contenders for the 2022 elections, initiating the selection process that the pro-democracy coalition hopes to result in a “united choice” for standard bearer.
The event on Saturday is titled “Isang Boto, 1Sambayan: Piliin ang Ating Pambato,” and will be streamed live via Zoom and on the 1Sambayan official FB page from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said all persons on the final list had agreed to submit themselves to 1Sambayan’s selection process.
President Duterte has yet to decide about his potential vice presidential bid in the 2022 national and local elections, Malacañang said on Tuesday.
This after Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte’s running mate in the 2016 national elections, said the President’s legacy might take a hit if he joined the 2022 vice presidential derby.
Cayetano said Duterte’s “legacies” would be put to waste should he decide to run for lower office in the next year’s elections.
“If I were asked personally, for example, if I were beside him right now and he would ask: Alan, what do you think? I will tell him: ‘Boss, you became one of the best presidents. Your legacy might be hit, and there are many other issues,” Cayetano said.
“You know, whoever becomes the next president…. just be the elder statesman,’” he added.
Cayetano took note of former President Fidel Ramos, who opted not to hold any public office after his presidency.
“Look at President Ramos. Not everyone agrees with him. To be frank, he wasn’t the most exciting politician. But then he became an elder statesman,” Cayetano, a former Speaker, stressed.
But Cayetano pointed out it is President Duterte who has to decide and not him.
“But that’s my view. It’s also affected. And what if the one he endorses as president will not win? So they will quarrel. This time around he will have no power for six years. He will just be waiting.
If anything happens to the president, he might be blamed for it,” Cayetano said.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, in an online press briefing, said Duterte would take into consideration all “well-meaning” pieces of advice from everyone, including Cayetano and his other allies.
In January, the President warned his eldest daughter against running for president in next year’s general election despite leading pre-election surveys.
Duterte-Carpio said she and her father had talked about the presidency a few days earlier.
“I went to see him (PRRD) last January 8. I told him I do not intend to run for President, he replied, very good. He also said he did not want me to run but nothing about gender was discussed,” she said.
In the lead-up to the 2016 elections, Duterte had repeatedly denied that he would run for president, and yet ran for the country’s top post.
Duterte did not file his certificate of candidacy prior the October 2015 deadline but was elected by political party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) to substitute for candidate Martin Dino, who withdrew his candidacy.
The president is not eligible for reelection.
The supposed Duterte-Duterte tandem would be an “insult to the Filipino people,” Calleja earlier said. “We trust the Filipino people will see this as a selfish move. Nothing to the benefit of the people, but only to perpetuate power to one family,” he said.
One of 1Sambayan’s convenors is former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, an aunt of Sara Duterte-Carpio’s husband Manases Carpio. The father, Lucas Carpio Jr. is also a lawyer.
The Davao City mayor last week met with former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, who lost in the 2010 presidential polls, and former Senator Bongbong Marcos, a defeated 2016 vice presidential candidate.
Should Duterte-Carpio succeed her father, it would be the first dynastic succession in the presidency. There were 36 years between the presidencies of Diosdado Macapagal and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and 18 years between the presidencies of Corazon Aquino and Benigno Aquino III.
On May 31, the ruling political party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, adopted a resolution urging him to join the vice presidential race and choose the party’s standard bearer in the 2022 national elections.
There is also a growing clamor for Duterte to pair either with his daughter or his former long-time aide, Senator Christopher Lawrence Go, in next year’s elections.
The President’s supporters are already rooting for either the “Duterte-Duterte” or “Go-Duterte” tandem.
Quizzed if Duterte mentioned his political plans during his meeting with select Cabinet officials on Monday night, Roque said: “It was a short meeting, a very short meeting. No [mention of] politics.”
Roque also reiterated his appeal to the public to just wait for the decision of Duterte and his daughter with regard to their political plans in 2022.
On May 27, Roque said Duterte was “leaving to God” his possible vice president run.
Meanwhile, Roque backpedaled and said on Tuesday he was “praying” about whether or not he would run in the 2022 elections.
Roque noted that he had sought to take part in the 2019 senatorial race but withdrew after undergoing a heart procedure.
He said he had an “unfinished agenda” after previously serving at the House of Representatives. Roque, who was a sectoral representative, did not elaborate.
Roque, however, noted it was difficult to raise funds for a possible candidacy.
Last year, Roque was asked in a press briefing if he would run in the next elections. He replied, “After what I’ve seen with the kind of media reporting, the kind of trolls that the opposition has, I’m looking forward to retirement from government service.”
