AFTER ALL THE DENIALS… Mayor Sara Duterte poses for a selfie outside the Commission on Elections office in Davao City after she withdrew her certificate of candidacy for mayor on Tuesday. —BING GONZALES
MANILA, Philippines — Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte-Carpio did not change her mind with regard to her political plans as she wanted to be president all along, but there were “stumbling blocks” her close ally Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said Wednesday.
Salceda made the remark as he was asked why Duterte-Carpio “changed her mind” and withdrew her reelection bid as Davao City mayor. It is not yet clear what position Duterte-Carpio will be seeking instead, but there are talks that she may gun for the presidency or the vice presidency.
“She wanted to be president in the first place since May. Yun naman talaga ang nakikita naman nya e,” Salceda said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel.
(She wanted to be president in the first place since May. That’s what she’s been seeing.)
“There is that unyielding firmness to purpose. Ang dami, everything thrown at her from the side of her father. Ayoko nang pag-usapan sana yan because tapos na yan, di na dapat pag-usapan,” he added.
(There is that unyielding firmness to purpose. Everything is thrown at her from the side of her father, I would rather not talk about them because they are all in the past.)
Salceda added: “There were just stumbling blocks towards it. So in order to clear it, di naman niya pwedeng diktahan ang tatay niya. So she had her way of clearing these roadblocks. She wanted to be president.”
(There were just stumbling blocks towards it. She cannot dictate her father. So she had her way of clearing these roadblocks. She wanted to be president.)
Back in September, Duterte-Carpio said she would no longer run for president in the 2022 national elections after her father, President Rodrigo Duterte, accepted his nomination as the vice-presidential candidate of the PDP-Laban party.
Duterte-Carpio cited a supposed agreement in their family that only one of them can run for a national post in next year’s polls.
However, President Duterte later decided not to push through with his vice presidential bid. Nonetheless, Duterte-Carpio filed her certificate for candidacy (COC) for reelection as Davao City mayor.
Nearly a week before the deadline for political parties to substitute their candidates, Duterte-Carpio withdrew her COC for Davao City mayor, fueling speculations of her possible presidential or vice-presidential run.
Salceda said Duterte-Carpio will announce her final decision before November 15.