Cusi: Inday Sara as PDP-Laban presidential candidate a ‘possibility’

MANILA, Philippines — Davao City mayor Inday Sara Duterte-Carpio being the presidential candidate of the ruling PDP-Laban in the 2022 national elections is a “possibility,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said Monday.

Cusi, who was elected by his faction as the president of the PDP-Laban, said this after President Rodrigo Duterte said that his daughter Sara will vie for the presidential seat with Senator Bong Go as her running mate.

“It is a possibility. The President said that right after Senator Bong Go filed his candidacy, saying Sara-Bong Go na,” Cusi said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel when asked if Duterte-Carpio is a possible presidential candidate for PDP-Laban.

“Pero, I think when the President said that, he was enticing Mayor Sara to throw her hat in the national presidency… I don’t know what will happen,” he added.

Duterte-Carpio has said she will not run for president and instead vie for re-election as Davao City mayor. She has also opted not to comment on her father’s recent remarks about her tandem with Go, who has filed his certificate of candidacy for vice president.

Another issue that may be faced by PDP-Laban is that Duterte-Carpio is not a member of the party as she currently chairs the regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago.

However, Cusi said the Davao mayor can re-join and be sworn in as a PDP-Laban member.

“That is a possibility, she can opt to rejoin PDP because she was also really a PDP before. So she can rejoin, that will be that will be an open option,” Cusi said.

Cusi said PDP-Laban can also adopt a candidate “that is aligned to our advocacies.”

If Duterte-Carpio decides to run for president under a PDP-Laban, it opens a possibility for a tandem between her and her father, President Duterte.

While Duterte has announced he is retiring from politics, critics raised the possibility of the President substituting as vice presidential candidate of PDP-Laban in place of Go.

The Commission on Election’s (Comelec) deadline for substitution of candidates is on November 15.

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