BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR and RAYMOND AFRICA
PRESIDENT Duterte has decided to run for vice president in next year’s elections, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said yesterday.
Nograles, executive vice president of the ruling party PDP-Laban, said the President “agreed to make the sacrifice and heed the clamor of the people and accepted the endorsement of the PDP-Laban party” for him to run as vice president.
There are two factions in the party, including the one headed by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, which is pushing the President to seek the second highest post in the country next year. The other faction is led by boxing icon turned senator Emmanuel Pacquiao who is known to be eyeing the presidency but has not made any official declaration. Pacquiao has yet to return from the US.
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, who belongs to the Pacquiao faction of the PDP-Laban, wished all the candidates luck as he said the PDP-Laban “has not reached that level of having chosen a VP candidate because we will most likely delegate to our presidential candidate the choice of his or her running mate.”
“Choosing the VP candidate first before naming your presidential candidate is an unusual circuitous convoluted process which I have never encountered before,” Pimentel also said.
The opposition 1Sambayan coalition said Duterte’s acceptance of the nomination is a clear mockery of the Constitution and the democratic process.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who is the first to publicly announce his intention to run for president with Senate President Vicente Sotto III as running mate, said Duterte’s decision will not affect his and Sotto’s political plans for next year.
“We have already declared, and at this point in time, there is no turning back,” he said.
Lacson said he hopes voters will choose candidates based on their track record and performance, and “will not be swayed by entertainment politics or affected by fear and intimidation.”
Nograles said the President announced his decision on Monday night in Malacañang during a meeting with party officials led by Cusi.
He said the party has also endorsed the candidacy of Sen. Christopher Go for president but the former long-time aide of Duterte has not accepted the nomination.
Duterte’s decision to be the party’s vice presidential candidate lays the groundwork for him to stay in power beyond his term. His daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio, is being pushed by supporters to run for president, giving rise to a possible Duterte-Duterte tandem.
Duterte’s critics believe he could be making a play for retaining power through the No. 2 post, by taking over as president in the event ally Go wins and then resigns.
Duterte, who has portrayed himself as a reluctant president with no desire for power, has on several occasions said he wanted Go to be his successor. His endorsement in 2019 helped Go become a senator, a post he carries out alongside his duties as Duterte’s personal aide.
Go has been the 76-year-old’s closest aide since the late 1990s, when Duterte was a congressman representing Davao City in the country’s south.
“I am still not interested (in the presidency),” Go, who chairs the Senate committee on health, said. “Vaccines first, before politics,” he added.
Nograles said the endorsement by the party members and its resolutions urging the President to run, the public clamor, and his high ranking in surveys could have convinced Duterte to run.
Some other factors could have influenced Duterte’s decision, he said, like his desire to continue and complete his programs such as on the fight against terrorism, insurgency, corruption and poverty, and the scourge of illegal drugs; the Build-Build-Build program; and ensure the continuity of the COVID-19 vaccination program.
Nograles said the PDP-Laban endorsement of the President will be made formal during the party’s national convention on September 8, which will be held at the San Jose del Monte Convention Center in Sapang Palay Proper, San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan.
He said the party is also likely to nominate its candidates for president and senator.
He said for now, the party has five candidates for the Senate — House deputy speaker Rodante Marcoleta, Information Secretary Gregorio Honasan, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo.
Nograles just laughed when asked why he is not yet in the senatorial line-up, and said it is just an “initial” list.
He said names would be added during the convention.
On a Duterte-Duterte tandem, Nograles said the party is studying all its options. “ Let us not preempt the decision of the national execom, we should not preempt the decision of the national convention,” he said in Filipino.
The President has been saying in the past months that he would consider running for vice president if it would be good for the country, and to ensure the continuity of his programs.
However, he has also said he wants to retire from government after his term ends in 2022 and said he would keep his promise to support the candidacy of House majority leader Martin Romualdez if he runs for vice president. He also said that he only floated the idea of running for vice president to scare his opponents. — With Ashel Hachero, Wendell Vigilia and Reuters
