Mayor Rordirgo Duterte. RAFFY LERMA/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
DAVAO CITY – Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said the disqualification case filed against his plan to run for president “is for the Commission on Elections to decide.”
A certain Ruben Castor on Friday asked the Comelec “not to give due course” to Duterte’s certificate of candidacy (COC) for president because he was running as substitute for Martin Diño, who allegedly filed an erroneous document.
READ: DQ case raised as Duterte files COC in Comelec
Castor, in his petition, said Diño’s COC showed that he was running for mayor of Pasay City. Diño filed his COC at the last minutes of Oct. 16, the deadline set for the filing of the COCs of candidates for next year’s elections. He filed the COC after Duterte filed his COC for mayor of Davao City, instead of for president.
Duterte, however, had a change of mind and announced on Nov. 21 that he was running for president after the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) decided to dismiss a petition to oust presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe for having a questionable citizenship.
READ: Duterte: Poe ruling prompted me to run
For Duterte, the SET decision was erroneous. Admitting that Poe was leading the pre-election surveys, Duterte, in his Sunday television show Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa, said he would run because he would not want to have “an American president.”
On Friday, Duterte went to the Comelec office in Davao City and withdrew his COC for mayor. This happened while his lawyer, Salvador Medialdea, filed his COC for president in the Comelec main office in Manila.
READ: Duterte makes presidential bid official, files COC | Duterte withdraws COC for Davao City mayor
“I’m telling the Comelec now- go ahead and decide on it, the way you want it, as you see it legally,” Duterte told reporters on Friday night.
“Do not worry about me. I can accept any decision from you,” he added.