FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte and his children are free to run for office in the next year’s elections, President Marcos Jr. said yesterday.
The President was asked about the statement of Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday that her father the ex-President, and her brothers Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte are seeking Senate seats next year. Mayor Duterte is also planning to run for president in 2028, according to the Vice President.
Several politicians have expressed doubt on the Vice President’s statement which came about a week after she quit the Marcos Cabinet.
“It’s a free country. They’re allowed to do what it is that they want,” President Marcos said during a media interview.
But Marcos said it is still early to discuss the 2028 national elections and a lot of things could still happen until then. On the 2025 polls, he expressed belief things would be clearer by October year when certificates of candidacies are filed.
“Then we will see really kung tatakbo ba talaga. Sino ba talaga tatakbo? Kanino sasama? What are the parties involved? Which parties are in alliance with which? Doon lang natin makikita sa Oktubre (Then we will see if they will really run. Who will really run? Who they will align with? What are the parties involved? Which parties are in alliance with which? We will only see it in October), the President said.
The President, meanwhile, said despite the departure of the Vice President from his Cabinet, the UniTeam Coalition is still there and nothing has changed.
Marcos and the Vice President ran under the UniTeam in the 2022 presidential elections.
UniTeam is a coalition among Marcos’ Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD), Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, and the Vice President’s regional political party- Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP).
The PFP recently signed an alliance agreement with Lakas-CMD and the Nationalist’s People’s Coalition in preparation for the 2025 midterm elections.
It is still unclear if the PFP and HP would forge an alliance.
Marcos said there could be changes in the coalition depending on the decision of the Vice President on whether to stay with the administration or be with the opposition in the next elections.
“Depende lang kung ano position ni Inday Sara pagdating sa election. Siya ba ay nasa administrasyon o siya ba ay nasa oposisyon? That will be the only major determinant. But as the parties involved, pareho pa rin ang UniTeam, hindi pa nagbago (It depends on Inday Sara’s position when the election comes. Is she in the administration or is she in the opposition? That will be the only major determinant. But as the parties involved, the UniTeam is still the same, it hasn’t changed,)” he said.
TOO MUCH?
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, an ally of the former president, said he was “surprised” but expressed belief the Vice President was not joking when she said her father and brothers are “raring to run.”
He also said, “Let’s just wait for them to file their certificates of candidacy. But I know VP Sara when it comes to things like that. She cannot be possibly joking since her brothers are at stake here. So, when she says something like that, there is a big possibility that it will happen,” Dela Rosa said in Filipino at the Kapihan sa Senado media forum.
Asked if it is “too much” to have three Dutertes as senator, Dela Rosa he finds nothing wrong because there are current senators who belong to the same families, like the Villars, Cayetanos, and Ejercito-Estradas.
“Bakit, dalawa naman ang Cayetano. Hindi ba too much yan? Two Marcoses, not too much? Pero kapag Duterte, tatlo, too much na? (We have two Cayetanos. Isn’t that too much? There are two Marcoses (President Ferdinand Jr. and senator Imee), not too much? But three Dutertes is too much?” he said.
He said if “mentally-challenged” people are allowed to file their candidacies, then the more that the Dutertes are qualified to join the senatorial race, based on their past and current positions.
He also said the people need the Duterte brand of leadership which he said has the “balls” to confront issues head on and are feared by the people considering that most Filipinos are hard-headed.
He said the elder Duterte can still serve even if he is already nearing 80 years.
Meanwhile, Rep. France Castro (PL, Alliance of Concerned Teachers), a member of the three-man militant Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives, said she will run for senator next year.
Castro, a House deputy minority leader who is on her third and final term as representative, made the announcement on Wednesday night at the 42nd anniversary of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT). She said she accepted the call of retired teachers for her to run for the Senate. — With Raymond Africa and Wendell Vigilia
