DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte slammed critics who are bashing him for having a supposedly superficial reason for running for president.
Duterte said that he decided to run for president because he cannot stand the thought of having an American occupying Malacañan Palace, an obvious swipe at presidential poll frontrunner Senator Grace Poe.
Poe recently scored a victory with the Senate Electoral Tribunal, which ruled to junk the petition kicking her out of office over her allegedly questionable citizenship. The SET’s decision was criticized by Duterte.
“Anong hindi magandang rason? Magka-presidente ka na Amerikano, hindi magandang rason?”
(The possibility of having a president who is an American not a good reason to run?)
He said that if he is amenable with the idea of having a presidential candidate who is not a natural-born citizen, he would have expressed his intention to run in an earlier date.
“Kung gusto kong tumakbo noong October 16, bakit pa ako magda-drama? As a matter of principle, hindi ko matatanggap yang (expletive) na yan,” the mayor said.
(If I wanted to run last October 16, why am I still being dramatic? As a matter of principle, I cannot accept that.)
“As a matter of principle, hindi ko matanggap yan. Ayaw ko ng tao na half-American, half-Filipino (na maging presidente). By treaty, she is presumed to be a citizen, a citizen only,” he added.
October 16 was the last day of filing of certificates of candidacy for those gunning for positions in the national level.
Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte’s reported running mate, said that the SET decision was “the last straw” which urged the Davao City mayor to eye the presidency.
“(The SET decision) was the last straw. That was the deciding factor for him to go for it,” Cayetano said.
Duterte also confirmed on Monday that Cayetano will be his running mate, saying that the formal proclamation and decision will still come from PDP-Laban, his political party.