A stalwart of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) on Friday said the party is no longer expecting Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio to change her mind and join the May 2022 presidential race.
In a television interview, the party’s secretary general, Deputy Speaker, and Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay, said: “after so many conversations, not anymore.”
He said the Lakas-CMD would respect the decision of the President’s daughter and the party is no longer pursuing further talks with her camp after it did “before the last day of the filing of certificate of candidacy (COC).”
The Commission on Elections set on October 8, 2021, the last day of COC filing for the next year’s national elections.
Duterte-Carpio has said she is seeking reelection in the May 2022 elections, despite persistent calls from her supporters to seek the presidency.
On the final day of filing of COC, Duterte-Carpio’s supporters trooped to the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila in Pasay City to urge the mayor to run for president and succeed her father.
But in her latest statement, “Inday Sara” insisted she will seek a third term in Davao City.
Given this, Pichay said: “There’s no more talks] and we really have to respect the decision of Mayor Inday Duterte because first she’s still young and she has so many unfinished business in Davao City. We really have to respect that.”
Pichay earlier said the Lakas-CMD was open to other possible presidential bets, including Sara Duterte.
He also denied that Lakas-CMD’s presidential aspirant Anna Capella Velasco, the party’s executive director, and vice-presidential bet Lyle Fernando Uy are mere “placeholders” waiting for real candidates to substitute them.
There are 97 presidential aspirants and 29 vice presidential hopefuls and voluntary substitution is allowed until November 15 before the final list of candidates will be released in December.
Lawmakers belonging to the Makabayan Bloc meanwhile filed a bill that prohibits the substitution of candidates by reason of withdrawal.
In filing House Bill 10387, the group led by Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said the belated substitution of a candidate is a “mockery of the electoral process and is a way of fooling the electorate.”
“The use of said provision as a strategy makes a mockery of the election process and an insult to the intelligence of voters. To allow this to continue is to defeat the people’s right to vote and to attack our democracy,” the bill’s explanatory note said.
It added the said provision “was intended to be a remedy for the substitution of a candidate due to the death, disqualification or withdrawal of another even until the midday of the election day.”
The lawmakers from the Makabayan Bloc echoed the appeal of some House leaders to remove the substitution option for candidates.
Deputy Speaker and Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez earlier filed two bills banning candidate substitution and declaring an incumbent elective official as automatically resigned upon the filing of his certificate of candidacy (COC) for another position.