Broadcaster and senatorial aspirant Raffy Tulfo on Monday said he was asked to be the running mate of Senator Manny Pacquiao for the 2022 synchronized national and local elections.
“It was the camp of Sen. Manny Pacquiao and I courteously turned it down,” he said in a television interview.
“I said that seems too fast. The jump to the vice presidency was too sudden. I also said I cannot run against President Rodrigo Duterte because he’s my friend. Another thing, there’s Sen. Tito Sotto whom I cannot battle against,” Tulfo added.
Duterte did not file for any position in next year’s polls while Sotto is running for vice president in tandem with Senator Panfilo Lacson.
Tulfo, who is running for senator as an independent candidate, has been adopted as guest candidate of Pacquiao’s slate and that of Lacson.
He topped a recent survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations with 57 percent of adult Filipino respondents picking the broadcast journalist as their top senatorial candidate.
Tulfo was followed by comebacking senators Francis Escudero and Loren Legarda in second and third place, respectively.
Of the eight administration bets, only former Public Works secretary Mark Villar was included in the preferred senatorial candidate for the 2022 polls, while five incumbent senators made it into the “Magic 12.”
Aside from Escudero, Legarda and Villar – who all got 41 percent and were statistically tied – Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano placed fifth with 38 percent followed by Senate Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri at sixth place with 34 percent, and former senator Jinggoy Estrada at seventh place with 29 percent.
The survey also listed senator Francisco Pangilinan, who is vying for the vice presidency in the 2022 polls and ranked eighth with 28 percent, while TV host and comedian Willie Revillame, who is not running, and Senator Risa Hontiveros were statistically tied with 25 percent each
Other possible senatorial winners are reelectionist Senator Sherwin Gatchalian and Duterte administration critic Sen. Richard Gordon who received 21 percent for the 11th and 12th place, respectively.