MANILA, Philippines — Hugpong ng Pagbabago said Wednesday that it will back President Rodrigo Duterte’s vice-presidential bid should he push through with it.
However, the regional party headed by the president’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, reiterated that she would not pursue a presidential run should her father aspire for the vice presidency.
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“HNP will support President Duterte as vice president and President Duterte’s choice for presidential candidate in 2022. But it is not going to be Sara Duterte because she has mentioned that she does not want a Duterte-Duterte tandem,” HNP spokesperson and secretary general Anthony del Rosario said partly in Filipino.
The Dutertes topped the latest Pulse Asia survey with 28% of its 2,400 respondents saying that they would have voted for the Davao City mayor as president if the elections were held when they were polled, while 18% said they would have voted for the president as vice president.
While the younger Duterte has yet to formally announce her plans for the coming elections, at least five national parties — Lakas – Christian Muslim Democrats, National Unity Party, Nacionalista Party, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino and People’s Reform Party — are seeking to build an alliance with HNP.
Officials working for the president have indicated support for her and tarpaulins have also been put up in different parts of the country urging her to run.
President Duterte has repeatedly said that he does not want his daughter to run for president, but his spokesperson, Harry Roque — who is backing Mayor Duterte’s possible presidential bid — said in June that the chief executive wanted her to run.
After months of rejecting calls for her to run, Mayor Duterte said last week that she is “open” to joining the presidential race next year, but stressed that there is no final decision yet. Her apparent hesitancy to announce her candidacy is reminiscent of her father’s last minute decision to run in the 2016 elections.
President Duterte, meanwhile, has been publicly toying with the idea of running for vice president, citing supposedly unfinished business during his term as president, but stressed that his presidential running mate must be aligned with him.
HNP: Not a political dynasty
Some political observers have warned that should the Dutertes eventually succeed to grab the top two posts in government come 2022, it will be the “final stop” in three decades that have been marked by the ascendancy of political dynasties and will “magnify the domination of dynastic politicians.”
But for HNP, there is no such thing as a political dynasty as long as people freely choose candidates to vote for.
"For as long as people are allowed to exercise their right to vote, for as long as there is no duress when it comes to voting, I don’t see why it should be a political dynasty," del Rosario said.
Some political analysts, however, have said that the very existence of political dynasties limit the choices of the people as their lasting sway over electoral strongholds tends to keep out non-dynastic competition. — with reports from Kristine Joy Patag and Bella Perez-Rubio