President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio. (FILE) Photo by ARCEL VALDERRAMA / Presidential Photographers Division
MANILA, Philippines — A day after President Rodrigo Duterte said his daughter will not seek the presidency, his spokesman trumpeted Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio as the “most qualified” to run for president in the next elections.
In a radio interview Friday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque also said the presidential daughter is the “most prepared” even citing surveys showing that Duterte-Carpio will win if she runs to succeed his father in 2022.
On Thursday, Duterte himself said this daughter is not pursuing the highest government post of the land and that he discouraged her from doing so because being president “is not a woman’s job.”
“Eh malayo pa naman po ang eleksiyon ‘no, so tutok na muna tayo sa pandemya. Pero sa akin po, tingin ko si Mayor Inday Sara, siya ang pinaka-qualified, pinakahanda at, as the survey shows, kung tatakbo talaga siya, siya talaga ang mananalo,” Roque said in an interview with DZRH.
(The election is still far so let’s focus on the pandemic. But for me, I think Mayor Inday Sara is the most qualified, most ready and as the survey shows, if ever she runs, she will win.)
“At tingin ko Inday Sara will make the right decision at the right time kung ano ang makakabuti sa kaniyang ama at kung ano ang makakabuti sa sambayanang Pilipino,” he added.
(I think Inday Sara will make the right decision at the right time on what will be good for her father and for the Filipinos.)
A recent Pulse Asia survey showed the Davao City mayor leads among possible contenders in the 2022 presidential race.