Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Thursday she would not anymore seek the presidency in 2022 after her father, President Rodrigo Duterte, announced that he would pursue the vice presidency.
“I am not running for a national position as we both agreed only one of us will run for a national position in 2022,” Sara told reporters in a text message.
Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque also previously said that the president would not seek the vice presidency if Sara pursued the presidency in 2022 out of “delicadeza.”
It was Duterte’s acceptance of PDP-Laban’s nomination, however, that pushed Sara to back out.
The Davao City mayor recently hit Duterte and his aide, Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, for supposedly “mak[ing] me the reason for them running or not running.”
She earlier said Duterte had talked to her and pushed her to either endorse the Go-Duterte tandem or take in Go as her vice president.
Sara added that her party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago, would not support PDP-Laban in the 2022 national elections.
“Our politics do not interfere with our familial relationship. Iba ang trabaho, iba ang pamilya. Walang personalan,” she said.
PDP-Laban members from Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi’s faction on Wednesday nominated Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go as its standard bearer in the 2022 national elections and Duterte as its vice president.
Duterte said he would pursue the vice presidency to continue his programs.
“Is it ambition? Maybe. But is it really a sense of love of country? Yes. It is really because I want to see the continuity of my efforts even though I may not be the one giving the direction. Baka makatulong lang ako,” he said.
Go however said that he remained uninterested in running for the presidency.
“Inuulit ko, hindi po ako interesadong tumakbo sa pagka-Pangulo sa darating na halalan. Nakatutok po ang buong puso at isipan ko sa pagseserbisyo sa aking kapwa at wala po akong hangarin na makipagkumpitensya sa pinakamataas na posisyon sa bansa,” he said in a statement. John Ezekiel J. Hirro