MANILA – The father-daughter clash for the vice presidency is not happening. President Rodrigo Duterte is running for a Senate seat in the 2022 national elections.
A representative of Duterte filed his certificate of candidacy less than 30 minutes before the closing of the period for substitution of candidates at 5 p.m. on Monday.
Duterte substituted senatorial aspirant Monalisa Vizmonde under the Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan, an ally party of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
The country’s incumbent chief executive had been in the talks of running for the second highest position against daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD).
According to former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, Duterte decided not to compete with his “favorite daughter” despite opposition on the latter’s decision to run for VP instead of the presidency.
“Nagmamahalan po ang mag-ama kaya hinding–hindi po sila magbabangaan,” Roque said on Monday.
Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, who was supposed to be Duterte’s running mate, welcomed the decision.
“Kung ako lang tatanungin, ayaw ko din na [vice president] ang i-file nya. Ayaw ko magkasakitan pa. Tama na ako na lang ang nasaktan. Mataas respeto ko kay pangulo at sa kanyang pamilya,” Go said.
Last month, Duterte said he would retire from politics at the end of his presidential term by June 30, 2022./PN