MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has claimed that Senator Imee Marcos is eyeing to become the running mate of his daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio should she vie for the presidency.
“Ngayon si Imee, medyo kasi si Imee ganito ang laro nyan e, pinupuntahan niya si Mayor Duterte sa Davao hoping na kung magtakbo yun, siya ang maging bise,” Duterte said in a taped speech aired on Tuesday.
(Now, Imee, her game is like this, she goes to Mayor Duterte in Davao hoping that if [Mayor Sara] runs, she’ll be the vice president.)
But the President said he thinks his daughter will not run for president which was why he accepted the endorsement for him to run for the second highest post in the country.
“Hindi naman tatakbo, sabi niya. Sabi ni Mayor Sara Duterte, hindi siya magtakbo, kaya sabi ko magtakbo ako ng vice presidente. Bakit? Walang oposisyon,” Duterte said.
(SHe’ll not run, she said. Mayor Sara Duterte said she’ll not run, that’s is why I decided to run for vice president. Why? Because there was no opposition.)
But contrary to what the President said, Imee had floated the possibility of her brother former Senator Bongbong Marcos teaming up with Duterte-Carpio in the case he does not run for president.
“I think the most obvious thing is if the Dutertes have the solid South, we are assumed to have the solid North, the Marcoses, so parang marriage made in heaven ‘yan,” Imee earlier said in a television interview.