File photo of PDP-Laban faction Secretary General Melvin Matibag during his oath taking as acting Cabinet Secretary before Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has not yet endorsed any presidential candidate as his successor, Cabinet Secretary Melvin Matibag said Tuesday.
Duterte over the weekend said that he wants a compassionate, decisive, and a good judge of a person, preferably a lawyer, to be the next president.
Of the 10 presidential hopefuls vying in the May elections, only Vice President Leni Robredo and Jose Montemayor Jr. are lawyers.
“All I can say is there’s no endorsement coming from the president for Vice President Leni Robredo to be elected as the president,” Matibag said on ABS-CBN News Channel’s Headstart.
“The president is setting up standards. He mentioned general standards of what our next president should have. It just so happened that candidate lawyers, dalawa lang sila na kandidatong (there are only two candidates who are) lawyers,” he added.
According to Matibag, the president remains neutral and the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), which both of them are part of, has no decision yet on who to support in the presidency.
“Sinabi naman ni presidente that he will remain neutral. As of now, he’s neutral. Wala pa rin siyang binabanggit. Even sa partido namin, wala talaga kami pang sinasabi kung sino ang dadalhin ng partido,” said Matibag.
(The president said that he will remain neutral. As of now, he’s neutral. He is not mentioning any names. Even in our party, we have not announced who the party will support yet.)
To recall, Duterte earlier said that the people can vote for an Ilocano leader they want in Malacañang.
Only former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the running mate of the president’s daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio, is the Ilocano in the presidential race.
Talks with PDP-Laban, Duterte
Matibag likewise shared that a number of presidential candidates have signified intent to talk to the leadership of PDP-Laban and Duterte himself.
“Personally, meron mga nakakarating talaga sa’min na pasabi ng pakikipag-usap (we receive advice on discussions). Not only [Manila City] Mayor Isko [Moreno],” he said.
“Actually, you’ll be surprised that most of the—if not all, most of the presidential candidates [want] to talk to the party and to the president,” Matibag continued, adding that Senator Manny Pacquiao also reached out.