Nothing is final yet where President Rodrigo Duterte’s political plans for the 2022 elections are concerned.
Two days after announcing that he is accepting the PDP-Laban nomination for him to run as vice president next year, and hours after presidential spokesman Harry Roque said “things are clear now,” Duterte clarified he is a step closer toward making a decision, but nothing is cast in stone.
“It seems I might really run, Sal. I am getting more and more convinced,” the President said after hearing the ringing endorsements from Tarlac mayors reported by chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo.
Duterte said two more reports from Panelo on endorsements from local officials clamoring for him to run for vice president might seal the deal.
The President initially asked Panelo if he was sure the endorsements he was receiving were “coming from the heart” and not just political machinations.
Despite keeping his options open, Duterte said whatever decision he will make will be for the interest of the Filipino people.
“The Filipino nation can be very sure that whatever statement that I will give, it will always be for the benefit and interest of the country. I have no personal interest there except to serve,” the President said.
Earlier in the day, Roque said Duterte would run for vice president next year as he had “unfinished business” after six years in the country’s most powerful position.
“This is what the President said: Things are clear now. I will run for vice president,” Roque quoted the President as saying after his address to the nation late Tuesday evening.
During the same address to the nation, Duterte said he and his close aide, Senator Christopher Go—the projected presidential bet of one faction of the ruling party — could drop out of the race in favor of his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
This part of Duterte’s address Tuesday night, however, was edited out by Malacanang, as it was “a family matter,” according to Roque.
Roque also claimed Duterte will ditch a 2022 vice presidential run if House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez will run for the same post, as what the President had promised to the lawmaker in June last year.
“If Congressman Romualdez will run, then the President will support him. But there is no indication that Congressman Romualdez will run for Vice President at this point,” the Palace spokesman said.
A faction within the ruling PDP-Laban party has been pushing Duterte to run for vice president and to choose Go as his running mate.
Duterte-Carpio on Wednesday issued a statement saying Go and her father should not use her as a condition to run or not run.
“I refuse to be a political punching bag for a party in complete disarray,” she said, referring to the ruling PDP Laban.
Her regional political party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), also said that the mayor informed them “that her decision on the matter will be her own and will never be based on what other people or other political parties want, do or say.”
“Furthermore, due to her commitment to effective governance, Mayor Sara knows and understands that running for President of the Philippines is something that should never be taken lightly,” HNP Secretary-General Anthony del Rosario said in a statement.
“Secondly, since Mayor Sara and HNP have no affiliation or involvement with PDP, we would therefore appreciate it if PDP refrain from involving our chairperson in their future plans,” Del Rosario added of the ruling party.
The mayor has already said on numerous occasions that she will remain a member of HNP and thus has no plans of joining another party, he said.
The pro-Duterte faction of the PDP-Laban, represented by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, maintained that the President and Go were the best candidates for the party.
PDP Laban Secretary General Melvin Matibag said Duterte was the most qualified candidate for vice president and has accepted the endorsement of the national executive council to run for vice president.
He also described Go as “competent” and “ready to lead the nation.”
Go has repeatedly said he is not interested in the presidency, however, and critics suspect that he would step down to give Duterte another six years in office.
Another faction of the PDP Laban supports boxer-turned-Senator Manny Pacquiao as the standard-bearer, causing a split that has resulted in an exchange of expulsions.
The militant Akbayan partylist, meanwhile, described the supposed rift between the President and his daughter as “a badly run Davao telenovela without any happy ending for the people.”
“Whether or not the rift is real, is inconsequential,” the party-list group said. “After all, for the Dutertes, politics is a family affair.”
Akbayan said the mayor was trying to portray herself as an independent, hitting her father and Go for not “owning up publicly” their decision to run in 2022.
“But she is guilty of the same thing. She keeps the public guessing about her presidential plans. This is despite the deluge of tarpaulins all over the country bearing her name and her high-profile visits to various cities and politicians amid a pandemic,” Akbayan said.
The group challenged the mayor to match her bravado with actions.
“If she doesn’t want her name dragged in her father’s mad attempt to stay in power, then she should abandon her dynastic plan to seek the presidency. Anything less than this is complicity and hollow theatrics,” it said.
The militant group said whether it is a Go-Duterte tandem, a Duterte-Duterte pairing or a Sara-Go combo, they are all extremely bad for democracy. All of them are part of President Duterte’s attempt at continuity.
“They all perpetuate autocracy, impunity, and evasion of accountability. In the end, the public are the losers here.”
The Filipino voters must reject them all, the party-list said. “If there is one thing that must survive and continue in 2022, it is not Duterte’s tyranny, but democracy,” it said.
In other developments:
* A group of lawyer-volunteers supporting the presidential candidacy of Vice President Leni Robredo will launch an online help and information desk dubbed Lawyers for Leni through Zoom and its Facebook page to fight disinformation. “As lawyers, we have seen how respect for the rule of law has deteriorated in the past five years. A lot of times, the law was used to serve personal interests of a few instead of being an instrument to bring social justice,” lawyer Ram Ramos said in a statement.
* Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar on Thursday ordered all unit and area commanders to start their security preparations for peaceful, honest, and orderly national and local elections in May 2022. Eleazar also instructed all police commanders to closely monitor the activities of private armed groups and loose firearms which can be used to sabotage or influence next year’s elections in their respective areas of jurisdiction.