MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Bong Go is joining the presidential race, while President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to go head-to-head with his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, in the vice-presidential derby.
Go withdrew Saturday his candidacy for vice president under the ruling PDP-Laban party and substituted for Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan presidential bet Grepor Belgica who backed out from the presidential race.
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It is not yet clear whether Go resigned from PDP-Laban and joined PDDS, but this would be the only way for him to substitute for Belgica.
Meanwhile, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar told media that Duterte will go back to the Commission on Elections office on Monday to file his certificate of candidacy for vice president.
Duterte had said in October that he was nixing his vice-presidential bid due to fierce opposition from a majority of Filipinos and would be retiring from politics.
But following the maneuverings of Duterte-Carpio in recent days which saw her backing out from her reelection bid in favor of running for vice president under Lakas-CMD, the faction of PDP-Laban backed by Duterte had to go back to the drawing board.
The Duterte-backed PDP-Laban faction had fielded Sen. Bato dela Rosa and Go for president and vice president, which was a departure from their original plan to field a Go-Duterte tandem.
But now, PDP-Laban is without a standard bearer as Dela Rosa also withdrew his candidacy for president.
Asked by reporters as to why he withdrew, Dela Rosa only said that he was following a party decision.