Nograles to vote for rival Duterte in 2016

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s bitter political rival, former House Speaker Prospero Nograles, says he will vote for the Davao City mayor should the latter decide to run for president in 2016. FILE PHOTO/CONGRESS WEBSITE

DAVAO CITY—Former House Speaker Prospero Nograles, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s bitter political rival, has said he will vote for the mayor should the latter decide to run for president in next year’s elections.

Nograles issued the statement after his son, Davao City first district Rep. Karlo Alexei, joined the calls for Duterte to run for president.

In his TV program aired at a local station last week, the younger Nograles justified his support for Duterte, a relative of his mother Rhodora Bendigo, by saying that none of the other presidential contenders came close to the mayor in so far as vision for the good of the country was concerned.

The younger Nograles said he was hoping that Duterte would eventually change his mind and respond to the clamor for him to join the presidential race.

“There are still many days remaining for the mayor to change his mind,” he said.

The former House speaker said his support to Duterte was anchored on the fact that they both hailed from this city.

“It is considered a sin in a locality not to support somebody who would represent the area in national elections,” Nograles said.

The elder Nograles said he too was waiting for Duterte’s final announcement as he admitted he had earlier planned to support the candidacy of another presidential candidate.

Duterte had said in jest that the former House speaker only wanted him to run for president because he wanted to run for city mayor again.

But the elder Nograles said he had no intention to run for any local post in 2016 although Karlo Alexei would be running for the third term.

Asked if he was burying the hatchet because of his public support for Duterte’s presidential run, he replied: “There was no hatchet to bury.”

“Politics is never personal but is about issues, beliefs, programs and purpose. Davao must be united against others. Rivalry is purely local,” he said.

The former House speaker also said he agreed with Duterte’s vision about federalism as a means of solving many of the country’s woes, including rebellion.

Peter Laviña, Duterte’s spokesperson, said they welcomed the support of the Nograleses’, particularly on Duterte’s federalism campaign.

“All support for federalism are welcome. We need to reach national consensus to achieve this shift in the form of government,” Laviña was quoted by a local paper as saying.

Laviña also said like the Nograleses, most Davaeoños thought it was Duterte’s time to become president.

The former House Speaker and Duterte had been bitter political rivals. Nograles twice ran and lost to Duterte in the 1992 and 1998 mayoral election.

In 2010, the elder Nograles again ran for mayor against Duterte’s daughter Sara and lost.

The elder Nograles served as House Speaker from 2008 to 2010. In all, he served the first district of Davao as congressman for five terms before being replaced by Karlo Alexei. Allan Nawal/RC