Alan Cayetano to Duterte: Thank you for believing in my ability

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte talk at the opening of Kadayawan, Davao City’s annual feast, in a meeting that was taken as a sign of an emerging Duterte-Cayetano tandem for 2016. GERMELINA LACORTE/INQUIRER MINDANAO

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Saturday thanked Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for supporting his vice presidential bid in the 2016 elections.

READ: With Duterte on his mind, Alan Cayetano says no thanks if LP offers VP

Last September 29, Duterte and Cayetano had dinner at a restaurant in Davao City after the senator announced that he was running for vice president in 2016’s national polls.

Following their dinner, Duterte was asked by reporters to compare Cayetano with other possible vice presidential candidates, to which the mayor responded: “Wala, wipe out ‘yan sila lahat sa kanya.”

(Nothing, he will wipe them all out.)

Duterte lauded Cayetano’s “good grasp of practical solutions” for the country’s problems on poverty, poor infrastructure, and lack of inclusive economic growth.

READ: Alan Cayetano: I am running for vice president

The senator, meanwhile, expressed his gratitude for the feisty mayor for believing in his ability to serve the country in a higher position.

He said he “continues to pray for a president who will take on the challenge of creating genuine change in the lives of Filipino families.”

“I join my fellow Filipinos in hoping for the best. Mayor Duterte is a very decisive person, he’s the type of leader who offers concrete solutions to problems and really takes action,” the senator said in a radio interview a day after he announced his vice presidential bid.

“When I announced my candidacy in Davao, I took a step of faith. I told myself that a good partner is really worth waiting for,” he added.

Cayetano is reportedly courting Duterte to be his president.

READ: ‘I am not running but if I change my mind, I will do it’—Duterte

Duterte has repeatedly said that he would not run as president but said that if he changed his mind and decides to run for President, he would pick Cayetano to be his running mate. Nestor Corrales/RAM