President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday night said his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, will run for president in 2022 with Senator Christopher “Bong” Go as his running mate.
Duterte made that declaration despite Sara Duterte filing at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Davao City her candidacy seeking a third term as mayor of the city.
Duterte confirmed the tandem in an ambush interview outside the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City on Saturday after Go filed his Certificate of Candidacy for Vice President.
“Sara-Go na ‘yan (It’s already Sara-Go [in the 2022 national elections]),” Duterte said in a video uploaded on the Facebook page of actress Vivian Velez.
Duterte withdrew his nomination as the vice-presidential candidate of the ruling party, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), and said he will retire from public service when his term ends in June 2022.
Go was previously proclaimed as PDP-Laban’s top candidate but he rejected the nomination.
Duterte’s latest statement came even if the Davao mayor has repeatedly rejected the presidency and filed her COC for a third and last term, also on Saturday.
Asked if his daughter’s presidential bid is already final, Duterte said “yes”.
“Ah, actually, hindi kami nag-uusap ng politika (we never talked about politics) ever since. Ever since, we never talked about politics. I would say that I did that [withdrawal of my vice-presidential bid] for the better,” Duterte said when pressed anew if he has given her the go-signal to seek the presidency.
He said he is not privy as to when the mayor would announce her presidential bid.
The younger Duterte may opt to follow in the footsteps of the President, who was PDP-Laban’s substitute bet for Martin Diño in the 2106 polls.
Diño, a former Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chair and Local Government undersecretary, was declared a nuisance bet because of the lack of a bonafide intention to run for President and inability to mount a national campaign, according to the Commission on Elections.
COC filing will end October 8 while political parties have until November 15 to replace their candidates.
