Duterte supporters torn between 2 VPs

WHEN Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte “reaffirmed” his candidacy for President at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) law department on Tuesday, he was welcomed by a mix of rowdy supporters that carried banners suggesting he has two running mates—Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

“I am humbled and awed,” Duterte told reporters when sought for comment.

Duterte’s supporters are urging the poll body not to bar the mayor from replacing former Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) standard-bearer Martin Diño who withdrew his candidacy on Oct. 27.

One group was calling for an “AlDub” pairing, or “Alyansang Duterte-Bongbong” as it pushed for Marcos as Duterte’s Vice President.

The red-shirt group is pushing for Cayetano as Duterte’s Vice President.

Bongbong’s mixed signals

Duterte told reporters he really had chosen Cayetano as his running mate.

“I did not consider Bongbong because of mixed signals. He came to me. Then came the news that he was being asked by (Sen.) Miriam Santiago to run in tandem with her. I hadn’t heard from him so I told Cayetano ‘Tayo na lang (we’ll be the team),” he said.

In a previous Inquirer article, Marcos explained that what he had done was to seek Duterte’s endorsement at a time when he thought Duterte was not running for President.

Outnumbered

“I was hoping he would endorse me for my vice presidential candidacy and hopefully that would give me extra votes. He is strong in Mindanao and in Cebuano-speaking areas,” said Marcos, who described Duterte as a close friend.

At the Comelec headquarters, at least a hundred supporters of Marcos showed up, but were no match to the supporters of Cayetano who numbered more than 1,000, according to the police.

“We are closely monitoring them to ensure no untoward incident will take place between the two groups, but the red crowd is bigger and numbered at least ten times that of the Marcos supporters,” the police officer said.

“So far both camps remained to behaved,” said the police officer.

Pink shirts

The Marcos loyalists were wearing pink shirts while the Cayetano supporters donned red shirts. They stood on the opposite sides of the road while waiting for Duterte to arrive.

“We are here to show that we are solid behind a Duterte-Marcos tandem,” said Aida de la Cruz.

GOING GAGA Students and supporters mob presidential aspirant and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in his vehicle on Tuesday, shortly after he filed his certificate of candidacy in the Commission on Elections office in Manila. Duterte, a confessed womanizer and executioner of criminal elements, recently topped a Social Weather Stations survey on preferred presidential candidates. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

De la Cruz, who said she is not from the Ilocos region the supposed bailiwick of Marcos, is from Caloocan City.

“We hope he will change his mind when he sees us,” she said.

Former Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, a known supporter of Duterte, was seen standing near a crowd of Marcos loyalists.

Esperon declined to say whom he was supporting as Duterte’s running mate, but winked toward the group of the Marcos loyalists when asked whom he preferred as Duterte’s running mate.

At least 50 House members

In the House of Representatives, a lawmaker from Mindanao said at least 50 House members or a quarter of the chamber were open to supporting Duterte

At the weekly “Ugnayan sa Batasan” forum, Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles said: “I could safely say that there are about more or less 50 members of the House of Representatives, who have, at the very least, expressed their openness to support Mayor Duterte for President. More or less about 40 percent will come from Mindanao.”

Nograles said he was tasked by Duterte himself with recruiting supporters from Congress.

The lawmaker said that based on surveys, Duterte would capture at least 70 percent of the votes in Mindanao.

He said that most of these lawmakers were still waiting for the outcome of the disqualification case against Duterte and whether he would sustain his lofty ranking in the latest Social Weather Stations survey.

But House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) said he disagreed with Nograles’ assessment, noting that most House members were not convinced by Duterte’s surge in the surveys.

“So far, nobody has left us because a lot of them are unsure what will happen next,” Belmonte said.

The Speaker cited two LP members—Davao del Norte Gov. Antonio del Rosario and Davao Rep. Isidro Ungab—who reportedly expressed support for Duterte but remains with the administration party.

Belmonte said the LP had yet to decide on what to do with members who were not supporting former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, the administration’s presidential and vice presidential candidates, respectively.

“We just haven’t found the time or necessity to do it,” he said.