Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter is to run for president in next year’s election and her father’s long-time aide, who filed his vice presidential candidacy, is to be her running mate, ABS-CBN News reported late on Saturday.
Sara Duterte-Carpio is the mayor of Davao, the Philippines’ third-largest city, and on Saturday filed to run for mayor again.
She has previously said she would not run for national office next year.
Photo: EPA-EFE
ABS-CBN news based its report on an interview that Duterte had with a broadcast journalist right after he announced that he was retiring from politics while accompanying his closest loyalist, Philippine Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, who filed his vice presidential candidacy.
He was asked: “So is it clear, Sara-Go?”
“It is Sara-Go,” Duterte said in response.
Asked to confirm what the president said, Duterte-Carpio’s spokesperson, Liloan Mayor Christina Garcia Frasco said: “The extent of my knowledge is also what was reported in local news. We have no comment on the same.”
Go did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ABS-CBN News said it obtained permission from the broadcast journalist to use the video showing Duterte outside a hotel in Manila where the registration of candidates was taking place, and a transcript was also provided.
In the same clip, Duterte was asked when his daughter would file her candidacy for president.
“I really do not know. I do not have any idea at all,” he said.
Asked if he had given his daughter permission to run for president, he said: “Ah, no, actually we don’t talk about politics... I would say that it is for the better.”
Duterte, 76, also said he was retiring from politics, a surprise move that fueled speculation he was clearing the way for a presidential run by his daughter.
He had been expected to run for the No. 2 job, a plan most Filipinos oppose as contravening the spirit of the constitution, which sets a one-term limit for the president to stop power being abused.
Duterte-Carpio’s mayoral re-election filing did little to douse speculation she has her eye on the presidency.
Political analysts said last-minute changes are still possible, as in 2015, when Duterte entered the presidential election race at the 11th hour, adding that Duterte-Carpio could do the same.
Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo plans to decide this week if she will run for president, her spokesman said yesterday.
Robredo is likely to be the only opposition candidate in a crowded field in the elections in May next year.
Her spokesperson Barry Gutierrez said that she has not yet accepted the opposition coalition’s nomination, and would announce her decision before the filing deadline on Friday.
Additional reporting by AFP
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