spot_img
29 C
Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Duterte roots for Bello in 2019 run

- Advertisement -

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Friday gave his blessings to Labor Secretary Silvestre “Bebot” Bello III, also the government’s chief negotiator with the communist rebels, to run for senator in the 2019 elections should he decide to.

“I’m not facing any election anymore. And I don’t think that I will also… but if Bebot really wants to run for senator… it’s okay,” Duterte said in a speech at Bulacan, where the Department of Labor and Employment held its 84th anniversary celebration.

But in a chance interview at Clark in Pampanga Thursday, Bello simply dismissed the idea: “Biro lang ‘yun ni boss (It was the boss’s joke).”

Duterte was reported as saying: “Senator Bello—I mean secretary, secretary Bello, he is a Cabinet member—is easy to talk to. Are you running?”

This is the second time Duterte has floated Bello’s name as a potential senatorial candidate. The President had introduced Bello, who was his former dormitory mate at the YMCA of Manila, as a senator in the DoLE anniversary party.

- Advertisement -

Previously, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez announced that some of the ruling party PDP-Laban’s bets for the 2019 senatorial elections are Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, Communications Assistant Secretary Margaux “Mocha” Uson, Rep. Karlo Nograles (Davao City), Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Negros Occidental), Rep. Geraldine Roman (Bataan) and former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino.

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles