Duterte: Sara won’t run for president

BACOLOD CITY — President Duterte said his eldest daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, is not running for President in 2022.

“If I know Inday (Sara), she will not run. She is very wise. She just wants to shake the tree,” the President said on Thursday at a PDP-Laban rally here hosted by Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia.

Duterte spoke for about two hours from behind a bulletproof glass panel to a crowd of about 8,000, who stayed despite the rain at the football field behind the Bacolod City Government Center.

Just shaking the tree

“More than anything else I’d like to thank God for the rain,” he said, as he thanked the crowd for their sacrifice.

Sara, who heads the regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago, has been going around the country campaigning for its senatorial slate.

Duterte said his daughter just wants to shake the tree “so the ripe fruits would fall and the unripened ones would stay. Shaking the tree to get rid of the dried leaves and everything.”

The President said he would tell the Davao City mayor to “lay off” the idea of seeking the highest position in the land in the May 2022 elections.

The younger Duterte, however, said she would decide on whether to throw her hat into the presidential ring by January 2021.

The President has repeatedly dismissed the possibility that his daughter would try to succeed him, always saying that Sara was too smart or wise for that.