Sara Duterte ‘moving towards presidency,’ ally says
MANILA, Philippines — A close ally of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said Wednesday that she is “moving towards the presidency” after she withdrew her bid for reelection.
“She’s running for president. All this political gyration just shows that she’s moving towards the presidency,” Rep. Joey Salceda (Albay) told ANC’s “Headstart” Wednesday morning.
Salceda said it is “most likely” that Duterte-Carpio, daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte who chairs the ruling PDP-Laban, will join and eventually run under the banner of Lakas-CMD which is headed by House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez (Leyte).
The Albay lawmaker also dismissed rumors that Duterte-Carpio will run as Sen. Bongbong Marcos’ vice president, as a run for the second highest position in the country is supposedly off the table for the Davao City mayor.
Duterte-Carpio withdrew Tuesday her candidacy for Davao City mayor, fuelling speculation that she will run for a national post, despite saying earlier that she is not interested in doing so, especially not under her father’s PDP-Laban.
Despite potentially reversing her stand on mounting a campaign for a national post, Salceda insisted that Duterte-Carpio has never changed her mind about running for president.
“She wanted to be president since May,” Salceda said. “There were just stumbling blocks towards it.”
Among these stumbling blocks were “complications” within PDP-Laban, which Salceda said were triggered by President Rodrigo Duterte.
PDP-Laban has been in disarray for months, with it splitting into two factions led by Energy Sec. Alfonso Cusi and Sen. Manny Pacquiao, both of which claim to be the legitimate ruling party.
The Cusi wing pushed for President Duterte to run for vice president, prompting Mayor Duterte-Carpio to say that she will not run for president as she does not want a Duterte-Duterte tandem.
All indications pointed towards President Duterte running for vice president until he pulled a surprise during the filing of candidacies where his longtime aide turned senator, Bong Go, filed his candidacy for vice president instead and the chief executive announced that he was retiring from politics.
But on Tuesday, an emotional Go hinted that there may be changes to his plan to run for vice president, upon the wishes of the president. — Xave Gregorio
- Latest
- Trending
