MANILA, Philippines — The portion in President Rodrigo Duterte’s taped national address where he was talking about backing out of the vice-presidential race next year if daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio decides to run for president was taken out during its airing Tuesday night because it was “a family matter” that should be left private.
According to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, he does not know who made the call to remove that part of the pre-recorded “Talk to the People’ of Duterte because another department or office was in charge of its editing.
“One consideration is the matter involved discussions involving family members so that was another consideration,” Roque said in a Palace briefing Thursday.
“So whoever edited it thought that the matter is a family matter and should be left between father and daughter,” he added.
FILE PHOTO: President Rodrigo Duterte extends his hand to his daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, who showed a gesture of respect to her father after delivering his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Session Hall of the House of Representatives Complex in Constitution Hills, Quezon City on July 23, 2018. Also in the photo is the President’s son Paolo Duterte. TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
Roque even pointed out that Talk to the People is usually edited heavily because the meetings can go on for hours. “We can’t broadcast for five hours,” he said.
But the Palace official appealed to the public to let the President and the mayor of Davao City resolve their issue.
“All I can say at this point, I’m only presidential spokesperson, is that let’s let the father and daughter resolve this issue,” he said.
In the aired portion of the address, Duterte bared his intention to run for vice president in the 2022 elections but the part where he said he will not pursue this if his daughter vies for president was edited out.
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This prompted Duterte-Carpio to challenge his father and the long-time aide of his father, Senator Bong Go, to “own up publicly” their decision to run as a tandem and keep her name out of it.
“I respectfully advise them to stop talking about me and make me the reason for them running or not running,” she said in a statement Wednesday.
READ: ‘Unpleasant event’: Sara Duterte outs President Duterte, Bong Go’s 2022 plans
In a statement released Thursday, Duterte-Carpio’s regional party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), said the Davao City mayor is carefully considering whether to run for president and that she will make her decision on her own, not based on other people or political party.
“Notwithstanding her unconditional love for her father, our Chairperson, Mayor Sara, reiterated once again to HNP that she will make her own decision on the matter of her run for the presidency at her own time,” HNP Secretary-General Anthony del Rosario said in a statement.
“She likewise informed HNP that her decision on the matter will be her own, and will never be based on what other people or other political parties want, do or say,” he added.