Panelo to ex-president Duterte: Be Sara’s running mate in 2028

Former presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — Rodrigo Duterte’s former spokesperson Salvador Panelo has advised the former chief executive to seek the Davao City mayoral post anew in 2025 and eventually the vice presidency as running mate of her daughter, incumbent Vice President Sara Duterte in the 2028 elections.

“Ang advice ko sa kanya is this. I said, Mr. President,  ang advice ko sayo tumakbo ka muna as mayor. Dahil kung ayaw tumakbo ni Baste (Mayor Sebastian Z. Duterte) kailangan mo ang Davao,” Panelo said in a press conference on Saturday when asked about the former president’s plans for the 2025 elections. 

(May advise is this, Mr. President run as mayor first if Baste does not want to run, because you need Davao.)

“And then, in 2028, mag resign ka,  tumakbo kang vice president ng anak mo. If Duterte- Duterte, maniwala ka, lahat ng kaalyado mo na bumalktad babalik sayo lahat yan bago magkaroon ng halalan. Bakit? Dahil sigurado kayo panalo napakalakas nyo mag-ama wala makakatalo sa inyo kahit ano gawin,” he added. 

 (In 2028 resign and run as vice president of your daughter. All your allies who turned their backs on you will come back during elections because the Duterte-Duterte tandem, believe me, is very strong. Your tandem is so formidable and no one will be able to beat that.)

Panelo said the former chief executive told him to continue the “Duterte-Duterte” advocacy and that his “open to any possibility.”

“He is open to any possibility.  Remember, he said: ako gusto ko na magretiro pero napwersa ako lumabas dahil sa mga nangyayari sa bansa,” Panelo disclosed. 

(Remember he said: I want to retire but because of what’s happening in our country I’m forced to come out.)

Last June 25, however, Vice President Sara Duterte announced her father and brother’s plan to run for senator in next year’s elections. 

“PRD for senator, my brother Paolo Duterte, currently a congressman, for senator, and Sebastian Duterte,” she said in Filipino in an ambush interview in Cagayan de Oro City.

In April this year, the former president said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should not eye a term extension after his six-year rule, as he aired his opposition against the government’s push for Charter change (Cha-cha), 

In February of this year, Marcos expressed his support for amending the 1987 Constitution, but only its economic provisions since these amendments are “strategically aimed” at boosting the country’s economy.

Duterte, however, believes it is the “usual excuse” to amend other provisions.