DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 9 September) – Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte said Thursday she will no longer run for any national position in the general elections next year after her father, President Rodrigo R. Duterte, accepted his nomination as vice presidential candidate of the Cusi-led faction of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
In a transcript of the mayor’s interview with ABS-CBN released by the Davao City Information office on Thursday, Mayor Duterte said the President’s decision to run for vice president did not affect her plans as they previously agreed that only one of them will run for a national position in 2022.
The PDP-Laban faction led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi on Wednesday formally endorsed Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go as its presidential candidate with President Duterte as his running mate.
Last Aug. 30, Go said he would not accept the nomination and would rather devote his time and attention to “helping the government and our people overcome this pandemic as soon as possible.”
But the mayor revealed that from her last conversation with her father, “plan A” would be to push for the Go-President Duterte tandem and “plan B” would be for Go to run as vice president of Sara.
On August 25, Sara told the President and Go to just admit their intention of running in tandem for next year and stop using her name as an excuse for running or not running.
But, unlike in the previous 2019 midterm elections, Sara said that she and her regional party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago, will not support the PDP-Laban in next year’s elections.
“No. I will not share my light this time,” she added.
She told her supporters she is happy that they are united “in our desire to see a better Philippines in the future.”
“I will be eternally thankful for your trust and confidence,” she said.
She added that her relationship with the President is not affected by politics.
“The same as it was before. Our politics does not interfere with our familial relationship. Iba ang trabaho, iba ang pamilya. Walang personalan (Work is different, family is different. Nothing personal),” she said.
Meanwhile, the PDP-Laban faction led by Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III ousted last Aug. 29 Cusi as party president and President Duterte as chairman, and officially elected Pimentel as chair and Senator Manny Pacquiao as president.
The Pimentel-led faction endorsed Pacquiao as its standard bearer for the 2022 national elections.
The late Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. founded the PDP during the martial law years. The party later merged with the Lakas ng Bayan formed by Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., who was assassinated at the airport in Manila on Aug. 21, 1983 upon his return from exile in the United States. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)