Senate run in 2022 makes ‘clown’ of Duterte, president’s ally says

FILE PHOTO: President Rodrigo Duterte and Peter Tiu Laviña (R) in 2016. INQUIRER/MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

ILIGAN CITY — An ally of President Rodrigo Duterte raised doubts about the real intention of the ruling party’s push to have him run for a Senate seat in 2022.

“I think they want to make PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) a clown. But it’s not funny at all,” said Peter Tiu Laviña, a convener of Sara All Philippines 2022 which is pushing for Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio’s presidential run.

“First, they attacked the Senate as a circus. Now, they want him to join the freak show,” added Laviña, who used to be Duterte’s spokesperson in the 2016 campaign.

Laviña said Duterte is not comfortable with being a member of the legislature.

“How many times did we hear him say he did not like his one-term stint in the Lower House. He is a man of action, not one who will sit in a debating club and listen to, oftentimes, nonsense,” he pointed out.

In his 35-year political career, Duterte only had three stints in the legislature. First as appointive vice mayor of Davao City in 1986, right after the People Power uprising that ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, then as congressman from 1998 to 2001, and finally as vice mayor from 2010 to 2013 with his daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio as mayor.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, president of a faction of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), earlier said members of the ruling party have been urging the president to run for senator in 2022.

Duterte was first drafted by the PDP-Laban Cusi-wing as its candidate for vice president and Senator Christopher Lawrence Go as president.

But on October 2, Duterte announced his retirement from politics as he accompanied Go in filing a candidacy for vice president. By October 8, when the widely awaited presidential bid of Duterte’s daughter did not materialize, Senator Ronald dela Rosa stepped in and became the ruling party’s presidential bet.

In a statement on Wednesday, Go said Duterte is still considering running for a Senate seat in 2022 if, among others, it will help the administration candidates win.

Go said PDP-Laban officials would meet before November 15 to finalize the administration candidates, adding that he himself has made up his mind on running for vice president.

“If this was a basketball game, due to poor play and (a) shallow bench, they now want the retiring coach to suit up. I pity PRRD, there are those squeezing him out of everything for their own vested interests,” Laviña said.

“Let him finish his term and retire, be a mentor (and) have more time for family and himself,” he further said. Ryan D. Rosauro, Inquirer Mindanao