Mayor Sara says Go-Duterte tandem to run in Eleksyon 2022

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte on Wednesday said Senator Christopher "Bong" Go and her father, President Rodrigo Duterte, would run for president and vice president, respectively, in the 2022 national elections.

In a statement, Sara said her father "personally" confirmed to her his plans with Go in next year's polls.

"The President, very recently, personally confirmed to me that he will run for Vice President and Senator Go as President," Sara said.

"It was not a pleasant event."

Go has been Duterte's trusted ally ever since he was mayor of Davao City.

Two letters

Sara said she was left with two letters that were endorsed by the President for her consideration.

"One note explained why I should endorse the Go-Duterte tandem and the other suggested that I take in Senator Go as my Vice President," she said.

Amid all the statements being released by personalities on the possible Go-Duterte tandem, Sara called on her father and the senator "to own up publicly their decision to run as a tandem."

"If they can confirm it privately, then I do not see the reason why they cannot be candid about it to the public. They should simply present to the people what they can offer to our country and how they can help our fellow Filipinos," she said.

She asked her father and Go to stop talking about her and "make me the reason for them running or not running."

Sara issued the statement a day after Duterte, in a taped public address, said he would run for vice president in the 2022 elections.

A part of the address that was edited out from the tape, however, has Duterte saying he and Go would abort their plans if Sara would seek the presidency, according to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Wednesday. 

Bong Go

Go, who earlier said he would only run for president if Duterte would be his running mate, meanwhile said politics was not his current focus.

"Nakatutok ako sa aking tungkuling bilang senador upang tulungan ang bansa na malampasan ang krisis na ating kinakaharap. Bakuna muna bago ang pulitika," he said in a report on Unang Balita on Wednesday.

(I am focused on my duties as a senator in order to help the country overcome this health crisis. Vaccines first before politics.)

"Umpisa pa lang, sinabi ko na kung ano ang magiging desisyon ng mga Duterte ay suportado ko ito. Sa ngayon, antayin na lang natin ang kanilang pinal na desisyon," Go said in a statement released later in the day.

(I have already said that I will support Dutertes' decision. For now, let's just wait for their final decision.)

He stressed that he would support Sara if she decided to run for president.

"My position has not changed. I am still not interested in running for President. And as I have said before, if Mayor Sara runs, I will support her," Go said.

'Decoy candidacy'

Ronwald Munsayac, executive director of the ruling PDP-Laban, believes the Go-Duterte tandem is just a "distraction" for a Sara Duterte candidacy.

"It's very impossible that the right hand of the President will go against his boss' daughter," Munsayac said.

"This tandem is merely a distraction to shield their 'real' candidate from political attacks and to weaken the PDP-Laban with this decoy candidacy."

Munsayac belongs to the PDP faction under Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III that is eyeing Senator Manny Pacquiao as their standard bearer in the 2022 elections.

The other faction, led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, has been endorsing the Go-Duterte tandem.  

Sara to Koko, Munsayac

Meanwhile, in the same statement, Sara told Pimentel and Munsayac to stop blaming her for the "sad state" of PDP-Laban.

"It is not my fault that no one among you is a leader worthy of the respect of the majority. Do not blame me for the sitcom that your party has been reduced to," Sara said.

"I am not a 'last two minutes' person. I think, I organize, and I implement accordingly. In the meantime, I refuse to be a political punching bag for a party in complete disarray," she said.

In response, Pimentel said he did not know why he was mentioned in Sara's statement, adding his comments on issues in the party were all addressed to Cusi as well as to Attorney Melvin Matibag, the party's secretary general.

"This is an internal dispute. I never dragged an outsider into our internal dispute or blamed an outsider for the internal dispute or for causing the internal dispute," Pimentel said.

"Our internal dispute has been caused by someone from the inside. That an outsider is being considered as the presidential candidate by an insider is not the fault of the person being mentioned but the fault of the insider who lacks faith, confidence and loyalty to his party and the talent and skills of the party member," he added.  —KBK/NB, GMA News