Yes, Sara Duterte should run for president – Trillanes

Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Any member of President Rodrigo Duterte’s family, including his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, should run in the 2022 elections to succeed him so that Filipinos can show how much they reject his family, former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said on Saturday.

Trillanes said he was confident that this “rejection” would happen should “Inday Sara” decide to join the fray because Filipinos always delivered their mandate to the rightful leaders during “critical” elections.

“I actually want a Duterte to run in 2022 because it would be an opportunity for the Filipino voters to reject the Duterte brand in the elections,” Trillanes said in a text message to the Inquirer.

Staunch critic

Trillanes, a staunch critic of the President, made the statement following media reports quoting administration allies saying that the feisty Davao City mayor would run for President next year.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said in various interviews that Mayor Duterte had confirmed to him her presidential ambition, and was even delighted that he was on her side.

“True that, I make things happen just by sheer grit and determination but I do not have the level of intellectual brilliance as yours so I am honored to have you on my side because I am only as good as the friends I keep,” she reportedly said in a text message to Salceda.

Former Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. also said that the Davao City mayor would run for President, with former Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro, who lost the presidential race in the 2010 elections, as her running mate.

In a meeting on Monday, members of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) led by party vice chair, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, passed a resolution urging Mr. Duterte to run for vice president and choose his standard bearer.

Daughter-father tandem

Some politicians are broaching a daughter-father tandem in the 2022 elections.

But Trillanes believes that Filipino voters would reject another Duterte in 2022.

“During the critical elections of the past, the Filipino voters have always delivered, so, yes, I’m very confident,” he said, citing the elections in 1986 and 2010.

Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Saturday slammed “rogue elements” in PDP-Laban led by Cusi and thanked the President’s daughter for rejecting the offer to be the party’s standard bearer in next year’s polls.

In a statement, Pimentel said PDP-Laban would field “homegrown candidates” and will not need to “import” as the coalition “is not lacking in talent.”

“Kudos to Mayor Sara Duterte for rejecting the idea of hijacking the PDP-Laban offer to her by rogue elements in the party. This shows us that she is a principled individual who may be interested in strengthening the party system here in our country,” he said.

The mayor said she did not intend to join “any national political party” and would remain with the local parties Hugpong ng Pagbabago and Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod.

This Cusi-organized meeting, according to Pimentel, was not sanctioned by acting party president Sen. Manny Pacquiao, who is also reportedly eyeing a presidential run in 2022.Isko weighs in

Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagaso, who is among those leading in surveys as a possible successor to Duterte, said he would not vote for a presidential candidate who would “inherit” the position.

He did not mention any names.

“Let democracy run its natural course,” Domagoso said in an interview with CNN Philippines on Friday.

“I do not believe, especially for the highest post, that the qualification is being a child of this person or a child of that person, that you would just inherit it,” he said when asked who he thought would be his main rival in the coming polls.

He clarified, however, that he had not made up his mind to run for President even after Mr. Duterte included him among possible successors, along with his daughter, Senators Bong Go and Pacquiao, and former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Domagoso was also named as one of the initial choices for president of opposition party 1Sambayan back in March.

The Manila mayor said he was “honored and grateful” to be favored by political groups and poll surveys, but he would rather not be affiliated with any group, as politics in the country had become “too polarized.”

The mayor said he would just focus on the city’s pandemic response for now.

“If I’m going to decide, I would decide based on what I believe, not because I was endorsed by a group or an individual. That is not fair to the people,” Domagoso said.

—WITH A REPORT FROM MARIEJO S. RAMOS