Duterte on 2016 plans: I keep an open mind

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with Lawyer Salvador Panelo. JULLIANE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—”I am not resisting. I keep an open mind.” This was the reaction of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte when asked about his plans to run as president in the 2016 elections.

Speaking to reporters at the 33rd anniversary of the political party PDP-Laban on Saturday, Duterte said he was open to run but added he had not yet “come to terms with myself about the presidency.”

“The mere fact of running, you have to ask yourself, dapat ba ako tumakbo bilang presidente? At kung tumakbo ako, kaya ko ba? (should I run? And if I do, could I make it?)” he said.

“I’m old and I have no money. I have served government for 30 years, 22 years as Davao mayor,” he said.

According to him, there is “a time for reckoning.”

He said there were other personalities he admired that could run for president, citing Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, whom he would support if she decided to run; Sen. Grace Poe, whom he said could “carry the day” though still a neophyte, and Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II.

But Duterte said that if he won the presidency, he would push for a federal form of government.

Duterte has been infamous for his strong political will and disciplinarian leadership in Davao City.

In his “listening tour” in Pangasinan, the mayor said he might run for president if only to save the country.

But in a federalism campaign in Dipolog City in Zambonga province, he said he lacked funds to run a nationwide campaign.

Sen.  Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel, meanwhile, said the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino was considering Duterte as the party’s standard bearer but the Davao mayor had to undergo a selection process.

Pimentel, however, said Duterte was getting a huge support from the party.