Duterte staying ‘neutral’ in May polls

CEBU CITY — President Duterte on Thursday night (March 31) announced that he would not be endorsing any presidential candidate in the May 9 elections amid calls of allies to support the only son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

“I’m not supporting any presidential candidate. Neutral ako. (I’m neutral). This is not a campaign because I’m not campaigning for any particular candidate. Stop ***** with me kasi hindi ito politika. (This is not politics),” he said in a speech at the Jpark Island Resort & Waterpark where he attended a joint meeting with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict’s (NTF-ELCAC’s) and the Regional Task Force (RTF) Central Visayas.

“Syempre, nandito ako nagmamagandang loob. Lahat nang tumakbo sa election, sana manalo sila. Bawal ko sabihin na iboto nyo ito. (Of course, I’m here to be magnanimous. All who are running in the elections, I hope they all win. I’m just not allowed to campaign for someone),” he added.

The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) faction aligned with the administration has already endorsed the presidential candidacy of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for the May 9 polls.

After the meeting in JPark, President Duterte was scheduled to attend a campaign sortie of the PDP-Laban candidates in Lapu-Lapu City.

The vote-rich province of Cebu, which has a voting population of 3.2 million, was the first of about 20 localities that President Duterte may visit to rally support for his political allies.

According to Lapu-Lapu City public information officer Mark Bautista, around 60,000 to 70,000 attended the event in Lapu-Lapu.

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