MANILA, Philippines – Former Senator Jinggoy Estrada, whom President Rodrigo Duterte recently endorsed, has been left out of the Chief Executive’s final Senate slate for the May midterm elections.
Duterte made the announcement on Thursday, after the initial campaign rally of the ruling PDP-Laban party in San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan.
Estrada was expected to be on Duterte’s preferred senatorial list, after the President raised his hand in an event in Legazpi City, Albay last week.
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Duterte, however, admitted that he just felt obliged to raise Estrada’s hand in the event because the former senator was already there.
“Nandoon siya eh. Alang-alang naman na hindi ko siya… Even for just one single day masabihan mo ng kandidato mo 13 lahat. What is that to a friend? We know that he has suffered. We know that he was in prison,” Duterte told reporters after the Bulacan sortie.
The President also did not mention Estrada in his almost two-hour speech.
With the exclusion of Estrada, Duterte’s Senate slate is now down to 11./gsg
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