SENATE BID Greco Belgica shows reporters a copy of President Duterte’s certificate of candidacy for senator under the Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan party. —LYN RILLON
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte avoided being pitted against his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, when he filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for senator instead of vice president in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday, the last day of voluntary withdrawal of COCs and substitutions.
The move ended months of speculation about his political plans that were fueled by remarks made by him or other officials about his intention to run either for vice president or senator, or go into retirement at the end of his term in 2022.
A representative for Mr. Duterte, lawyer Melchor Aranas, filed his COC for senator as a substitute for Mona Lisa Visorde. He will run under the Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan (PDDS) instead of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), which has been fractured by an unresolved leadership issue.
Both parties are in alliance and will carry one team in the national and local elections, according to PDP-Laban secretary general Melvin Matibag, who described the President’s move to run under PDDS as “a strategic decision.”
The President’s former aide, Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, is also running under PDDS as its presidential bet after he withdrew his COC—at Mr. Duterte’s urging—as the ruling party’s vice presidential candidate to give way to Sara. It was not clear who Go’s running mate would be.
In July, the President talked about vying for the country’s second highest post to get immunity from suit at the end of his term. The following month, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said that Mr. Duterte had agreed to be the vice presidential bet of the PDP-Laban faction led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.
But on Oct. 2, he announced his retirement from politics in 2022, citing the public’s negative reaction to his plan, and Go took his place as the ruling party’s candidate for vice president.
Then on Oct. 27, Cusi floated the idea of the President running for senator and becoming the party’s campaign manager. However, Mr. Duterte told Comelec reporters on Nov. 13 that he might file his COC for vice president and become Go’s running mate.
This was after he expressed disappointment over his daughter’s decision to run for vice president under the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) party even though she had the highest survey ratings among all presidential candidates, including former Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) had endorsed Sara’s bid.
No major problem
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, however, said there was no major problem in the relationship between father and daughter, even though the President felt bad that Sara did not consult him about her political plans.
“Maybe he’s sulking a bit, but I can assure you, Mayor Sara is the apple of [the] eye of the President,” Roque said.
Should he win, Mr. Duterte would be working alongside senators who had been at the receiving end of his tirades for questioning his administration’s decision to award P11.5 billion in contracts for pandemic supplies to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.
In his last briefing at Malacañang, Roque, who is also running for the Senate, said he had no regrets in serving the President.
“Never, because the President is duly elected by the people and serving a person who has been given the mandate to rule by the people is serving the people. The voice of the people is the voice of God,” he told reporters.
Roque substituted for Pablo Mario Martelino of the People’s Reform Party of the late Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago.
Other last-minute substitutes were former anti-insurgency task force spokesperson Antonio Parlade Jr. who will run for president, and newly retired Philippine National Police chief Guillermo Eleazar who will also vie for the Senate.
Parlade vs Go
Parlade, who substituted for Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino presidential aspirant Antonio Valdez, said he would challenge Go whom he described as “one of the country’s problems.”
He added that members of the military, including Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, were aware that Go had been “controlling” the President.
“I just don’t like how he does things, including controlling the decisions of the President. There are so many instances. I don’t want to elaborate on that. You ask the [Armed Forces], the Philippine Army, you ask the secretary of national defense,” Parlade said.
Go and Lorenzana denied Parlade’s claims
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said that a total of 19 people had substituted for those who filed their COCs for president, vice president and senator during the regular filing period from Oct. 1 to 8.
He said the poll body might issue the final list of candidates by December.
GMA not behind Sara run
The Lakas-CMD party, meanwhile, quashed rumors on social media that former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, its president emeritus, was behind Sara’s decision to run for vice president.
“The idea of her running as vice president did not originate from former President Arroyo. There was no meeting, planned or canceled, between former President Arroyo and Mayor Duterte in Balesin,” it said.
It also denied that Sara’s running mate, Marcos Jr., had also been summoned to the private island.
The party said that “from the beginning, [it had been] publicly committed to any national aspirations” of the younger Duterte.
“Lakas-CMD is elated with Sara joining Lakas because of her ‘sterling qualities as a leader and we saw up close her exemplary work ethic as chief executive of Davao City,’” it added.
Last week, social media was abuzz with rumors of a supposed meeting set by Arroyo with Sara on Balesin Island. On Thursday, the Davao City mayor resigned from the regional party she had founded, the Hugpong ng Pagbabago, and took her oath as Lakas-CMD’s newest member.
On Saturday, she became the party’s vice presidential candidate and Marcos’ running mate after the PFP released a resolution adopting her.