MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Thursday said it is too early to talk about politics as the country grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, even as it sent good-luck wishes to the pro-democracy coalition 1Sambayan which aimed to form a unified opposition ticket in the 2022 elections.
“Napakaaga pa po para mag-usap nang eleksyon at pulitika. ‘Yan naman po ang aming sinasabi palagi. Isantabi na po muna ang pulitika habang nandito po ang pandemya. Kami po sa administrasyon, gawa muna, pandemya muna bago ang pulitika,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.
(It is too early to talk about the election and politics. That’s what we always say. Let’s set aside politics while the pandemic is here. We, in the administration, focus on work during the pandemic, before talking politics.)
“Hindi pa po panahon sa pulitika. Pero hindi natin po sila mapipigilan. I wish them the best. Good luck to Justice Carpio,” he added.
(It is not yet the time for politics but we cannot stop them. I wish them the best. Good luck to Justice Carpio.)
Despite Roque’s remark that talking about politics is too early, President Rodrigo Duterte himself earlier bared his longtime aide Senator Bong Go’s dream of becoming a president which the latter dismissed as a joke.
Meanwhile, the President claimed to have discouraged his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, against running for president, and the latter has repeatedly said that she is not interested in following her father’s footsteps. Despite this, posters have sprouted in various places, including in Metro Manila, clamoring for the younger Duterte’s bid to succeed her father in the presidency.
During its launch on Thursday, Carpio said the “government is really incompetent” and this warrants “better alternative” against Duterte’s so-called “anointed one” in the next elections.
He said that there could have been a better COVID-19 response, but 1Sambayan said the government “wasted precious time and resources with charter change, shutting down mass media, threatening businesses with the cancellation of franchises, threatening the academic freedom of universities, and terrorizing legitimate dissenters with surveillance and arrest.”