ENERGY Secretary Alfonso Cusi, president of a faction of the administration party PDP-Laban, yesterday told members to “toe the party line and remain steadfast” following changes in the candidacies of the party’s top two bets.
“We assure you that nothing has changed, our objective remains the same – victory in the coming national and local elections. We urge you to toe the party line and remain steadfast,” he said in a statement.
Senators Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Christopher “Bong” Go on Saturday withdrew their candidacies for president and vice president in the May 2022 elections.
Dela Rosa said it was the party’s decision.
Go, after withdrawing, filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for president under party ally Pederalisimo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan (PDDS), substituting for Grepor Belgica, former presidential adviser for religious affairs under the Duterte government. PDDS supported Go’s candidacy for senator in 2019.
President Duterte, who accompanied Go to the Commission on Elections on Saturday, is expected to file his COC today, the last day of substitution of candidates, as Go’s running mate. If he does, he will face his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, who joined the Lakas-CMD party of former President Gloria Arroyo last week, and later filed her COC for vice president. On Saturday, she was adopted by the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, the party of presidential aspirant former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., as Marcos’ running mate.
Dela Rosa’s withdrawal and Go’s running under the PDDS leaves PDP-Laban with no official presidential and vice presidential candidate.
Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao, who leads the other PDP faction together with Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, is running for president under PROMDI, a Cebu-based party. His running mate is Rep. Lito Atienza of the Buhay party-list group.
Cusi issued the statement also after President Duterte, the faction’s chairman, said on Saturday night that some people might not be happy with the party’s decision.
“I ask for understanding. Now if you don’t understand and want to join another camp, it is fine with me. My support for Bong is a matter of principle. That’s why if we lose, accept it),” he said in mixed Filipino and English during an interview by vlogger Banat By.
He also said he was not happy with over his daughter’s vice presidential run as she is leading surveys on presidential candidates while Marcos has been placing only second in the polls.
“Para malaman ng tao, na hindi ko nagustuhan iyung nangyari. Di ko naman siya sinisisi kasi di naman kami nag-uusap, iyung decision nila ang ayaw ko na tatakbo siya (So the public will know, I did not like what happened. I am not blaming her, we have not talked, but I do not like their decision to run),” he said.
Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, in an interview with radio DZRH yesterday, said the President might return to the Commission on Elections today possibly to file his COC for vice president or another position. Andanar on Saturday said Duterte will file his COC for vice president.
Duterte said he will make an announcement soon, as he “might” run for vice president.
He also said he is supporting Go and will stand by him. He said he was the one who encouraged Go to run for president after the senator decided to withdraw his candidacy for vice president after Duterte-Carpio decided to run for the same position.
Duterte said he never promised to support Marcos or Pacquiao.
The President, in a statement released by PDP-Laban faction, said Marcos and Vice President Leni Robredo, who is also running for president in 2022, are “pro-communist.”
In the interview, Duterte said the reason he could not support Marcos or Robredo is because they are “pro-communists.” He did not elaborate.
DRAMA
Robredo’s spokesman Ibarra Gutierrez said there is nothing new with the “drama” in the Duterte family, accusing them of abusing the electoral process.
“We’ve already seen that kind of drama, right? We know that kind of drama, when they really squeeze and abuse the process of substitution, right? It’s as of they’re shuffling up people’s heads),” he said in Filipino.
In the 2016 national elections, then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was also an 11th-hour replacement for the presidential candidate of PDP-Laban.
Gutierrez, a former Akbayan party-list lawmaker, also said Robredo remains focus on her campaign, consolidating her forces which are composed of volunteers across the country and abroad.
House majority leader Romualdez, Lakas-CMD president, said there is no turning back for Duterte-Carpio’s vice presidential bid but did not say if Lakas will adopt his cousin, Marcos Jr., as its presidential bet.
“It’s final. Mayor Sara Duterte is now the official candidate of the Lakas-CMD for vice president in the 2022 national election,” he said.
Duterte-Carpio said her decision to seek the second highest post in the land would be an opportunity to meet halfway the call of her supporters for her to run for the presidency in the 2022 general elections.
In a video message posted on her Facebook page, Duterte-Carpio said she would not have run for a national post if not for the call of her supporters. — With Wendell Vigilia, Gerard Naval and Ashzel Hachero
