Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) founder and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio will not run for senator in next year’s election, an official of the regional political party said Monday.
During the signing of an alliance agreement with eight local and national parties at The Blue Leaf Filipinas, Adarna Parañaque, HNP Secretary General Anthony del Rosario said Duterte-Carpio will instead seek re-election as mayor of Davao City.
“We’ve talked about this several times, definitely po she’s not running for the Senate, ang sinasabi niya, hindi niya pa kayang iwan ang Davao,” Del Rosario said in an interview.
Del Rosario also said Duterte-Carpio still has a lot of tasks to do before leaving the province of Davao.
Davao is the hometown of the Duterte family. President Rodrigo Duterte had been a long time mayor of Davao City. His son, Paolo, was a Davao City vice mayor prior his resignation months ago amid illegal drugs cotroversies.
READ: Paolo Duterte quits as Davao City vice mayor
“Ang sinasabi niya hindi niya pa gusto iwanan ang Davao City kasi marami pa siya gusto gawin na ‘di niya pa nagagawa,” Del Rosario added.
Asked about Duterte-Carpio’s possible presidential run in 2022, Del Rosario said: “It’s not really something we’ve been talking about. We’re only talking about 2019.” /kga