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Friday, March 29, 2024

Rody ends talk of VP run, files for Senate race instead

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President Rodrigo Duterte will seek a seat in the Senate next year, ending speculation that he would run for vice president against his own daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Rody ends talk of VP run, files for Senate race instead
DUTERTE PROXIES. Lawyer Mel Arana shows the certificate of candidacy for senator of President Rodrigo Duterte that he filed at the Commission on Elections in Intramuros on Monday. Danny Pata 

Melchor Jaemond Aranas, the Chief Executive’s representative, filed the certificate of candidacy on behalf of Duterte on Monday at the Commission on Elections main office in Intramuros, Manila.

Duterte replaced Mona Liza Visorde under the Partido Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan, PDP Laban Secretary General Melvin Matibag said.

Duterte is not eligible to run for president again, but he can run for other posts.

In his televised Talk to the People late Monday, the President also defended longtime aide Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, who is running for president on Duterte’s advice after initially lining up as a vice presidential bet for the ruling party PDP-Laban.

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“(Go) does not control anybody. He does not control me,” Duterte said, in reply to critics who said the senator was manipulating the President for his own ends.

Duterte on Sunday said that he may seek for the country’s second highest position following the decision of his daughter to run for vice president instead of president.

Duterte-Carpio was adopted by the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), the political party of presidential aspirant and son of late dictator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

Matibag said Duterte will run under PDDS to avoid “legal complications” in light of the infighting within the ruling PDP-Laban.

He said this is the same reason Senator Go filed his COC for president, also under PDDS.

“PDP Laban fully supports President Duterte. Him (sic) using the PDDS… is a strategic decision,” he added.

On Monday, Go said he did not want Duterte to run for vice president because he didn’t want to see bad blood between father and daughter.

On Saturday, Duterte-Carpio filed her candidacy for vice president under Lakas-NUCD after she left Hugpong ng Pagbabago, the regional party she founded.

That same day, the President accompanied Go, long-time aide to the Comelec headquarters to drop his candidacy for the vice presidency and to replace Lyle Uy in his bid for the presidency.

Senator Ramon Revilla, Jr., Lakas-CMD chairman, said news that Duterte would run for the Senate removed the uncertainty around the vice presidential race.

Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, on the other hand, said “family ties will prevail.”

Duterte over the weekend questioned his daughter’s decision to run for the second top spot when she was leading in opinion polls for the presidency.

He said his daughter’s decision was made for her by the camp of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, who is running for president.

Duterte’s former spokesman Harry Roque, who resigned to pursue his own run at the Senate, said there was no problem in the relationship between father and daughter.

“The President only said Mayor Sara did not consult him on her political plans, but of course, he was a bit hurt,” he said in Filipino.

“But you know, Mayor Sara is our President’s favorite. Let us just say that like any other family, sometimes there are differences. But there is no doubt they love each other,” he said.

Duterte said he told Senator Christopher “Bong” Go to run for president after the latter dropped his vice presidential bid following Duterte-Carpio’s decision to run for vice president.

“Bong was crying, I said don’t cry, why are you crying, the race is open, run. Why are you crying just because my daughter came in suddenly?” Duterte said in an online interview with a pro-Duterte blogger that was streamed on YouTube.

The President accompanied Go when the senator went to the Commission on Elections office in Intramuros, Manila on Saturday to file his certificate of candidacy to run for president in the 2022 national and local elections under the PDDS, an allied party of the ruling PDP-Laban.

Duterte said he was surprised that Sara on Saturday filed her COC to run for vice president under Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) despite being the top contender for president based on the recent surveys.

Rody ends talk of VP run, files for Senate race instead
Outside the Comelec, supporters of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio hold placards urging the politician to run for president, instead of vice president as she did. Norman Cruz

He said Marcos might have influenced his daughter to run as vice president.

“I’m not blaming her because we never talked. It’s their decision that she will run that I opposed. I’m sure Sara’s move to run was the decision of Bongbong’s camp,” Duterte said.

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