Duterte’s decision, Aquino’s choice for 2016 to be known in June?  

DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte LITO TECSON/CEBU DAILY NEWS FILE PHOTO

June appears to be the month of major political decisions.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte will formally decide next month whether or not he will join the race for the presidency, according to Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, the president of the mayor’s PDP-Laban party.

But before that, the tough-talking Duterte may have to consider an offer to be the running mate of Vice President Jejomar Binay, after the latter revealed he is eyeing the mayor as his partner in the 2016 race.

READ: Binay considers Duterte as running mate in 2016

Pimentel, however, thinks Duterte will thumb down the offer to run as Binay’s vice president.

”Yup, that will surely be rejected,” Pimentel said in a text message. “Mayor Duterte might even be insulted.”

It was also “unacceptable” to Pimentel that Duterte would join Binay in one ticket.

Pimentel chairs the Blue Ribbon subcommittee conducting an inquiry on alleged anomalies involving Binay. The Vice President’s camp has been critical of the hearings, saying these were part of a political inquisition to bring down his chances in the polls.

The PDP-Laban wants Duterte to run for President, but has left it to him to make the choice.

The latest word from Duterte’s camp is he would make his formal decision in June, said Pimentel.

President Aquino is also expected to announce his anointed one in June.

‘Listening tour’

Duterte has been going around the country on a “listening tour” as he ponders his options, and recently flew to Hong Kong to meet with Filipinos there.

If Duterte, nicknamed “The Punisher,” will run for President, human rights issues are expected to come to the fore.

Recently, the New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the Philippine government to investigate the Davao City mayor’s possible involvement in extrajudicial killings.

This came after Duterte himself said his secret to the peace and order in Davao City, considered one of the safest cities, was to kill all criminals.

“How do you think I did it? How did I reach that title among the world’s safest cities?” he was quoted as saying. “Kill them all (criminals).”

READ: Duterte on criminals: ‘Kill all of them’

Pimentel on Friday came to Duterte’s defense, saying the supposed endorsement of the killing of criminals could be bravado on the mayor’s part. He does not think Duterte was involved in such a thing.

“He has never done that,” he told reporters in a phone patch interview. “Number one, there was a possibility he was misquoted. And number two, there’s the possibility it was a boast… tough talk which sounds too brave.”

But the senator, who chairs the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said that if such extrajudicial killings happen in Davao City in the future, “that is a crime.”

He also said that if Duterte decides to be a candidate for chief executive, “he should now sound presidentiable.” He would not need to mention executions at every turn just to sound tough, he said.

 Image workshop

“I think when he decides to run, he will have to undergo campaign planning, image workshop etcetera. Even your platform should be presented in a manner which will not alienate the voters,” he said.

“You can be macho without mentioning the word kill or killing in every sentence,” he added.

Duterte has a lot of supporters within and outside the PDP-Laban, said Pimentel.

“Those outside the party are impressed with the iron fist he displayed in Davao City,” he said.

Hailing from Mindanao gives Duterte an edge with Mindanao voters as well as with the Cebuano-speaking population, he said. This also lends credibility to his platform of advocating federalism, he added.

A Social Weather Station survey conducted in March placed Duterte in third, tied with the Liberal Party’s presumptive standard bearer Mar Roxas. Both got 15 percent.

The poll had Vice President Jejomar Binay at the number one spot with 36 percent, followed closely by Sen. Grace Poe with 31 percent.

Cayetano stand 

Meanwhile, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano of the Nacionalista Party, who has expressed openness to running for President, said he would decide on his plans in a few months.

Cayetano told reporters  on Thursday that he wanted to concentrate first on the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law, of which he has been critical.

He said he had been told that his combative stance on the bill might affect his chances, but he added that he has no plan of changing his position.

“I will not change my stand for political purposes. I want to finish the BBL first, then I can focus on 2016,” he said.

But he also said that at the moment, he was enjoying going around and bringing to the people the best practices that would help them earn better.