MANILA, Philippines — Hours before the period of filing for the certificates of candidacy for the 2022 elections ends, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Friday said she would push through with her re-election bid, indicating she is leaving the presidential race.
She also hinted that she would no longer run for any other post if she finishes her term as Davao mayor.
“I am presenting myself to the Dabawenyos as mayor for the third and last time in my life as a politician,” Duterte-Carpio said in a statement posted on Facebook.
“I call on everyone to work together for an honest, orderly, and credible elections in the May 2022,” she added.
Duterte-Carpio earlier said she wants to finish her term as mayor of the southern city before she moves on to another position. In fact, she has already filed her certificate of candidacy for reelection as Davao mayor, which is consistent, so far, to her previous statements that she will not run for the presidency.
Should she win in the 2022 elections, it will be her 4th term, having been Davao mayor for the first time from 2010 to 2013, then again in 2016-2019 and in 2019 until 2022.
In September, she said she would not run for president in the 2022 polls, citing her agreement with her father, President Duterte, that only one of them would vie for a national position.
President Duterte had previously announced his intention to run for vice president, having accepted his party’s PDP-Laban nomination, going so far as signing a certificate of nomination and acceptance.
However, in a surprise move on Oct. 2, Duterte said he would be retiring from politics and Senator Bong Go will run as vice president instead.
He also claimed Duterte-Carpio will run for president with Go as her running mate.