DAVAO CITY – Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio here has told supporters to refrain from organizing motorcades to urge her to join the presidential race next year because it “pollutes the air” and can “worsen the global warming.”
The feisty mayor made the statement after being informed that some village chiefs of Davao City are planning to hold motorcades to gather supporters to prod into running for the country’s highest post to succeed her father, President Duterte, who will end his six-year term on June 30, 2022.
“I’m trying to remember where this ordinance is that prohibits motorcade because this contributes to air pollution, and motorcade, as we all know, can worsen global warming. So, these motorcades that are not for essential reasons, contribute to global warming and air pollution,” she said.
She told her supporters to better save the fuel of their vehicles for some other things because there is no chance that she will change her mind about the presidential race next year.
Duterte-Carpio served as vice mayor from 2007 to 2010, mayor from 2010 until 2013, elected mayor again in 2016 when her father ran for president, and re-elected in 2019.
She said she has already told the organizer of the motorcade in the city not to push through with the gathering “because we are in a pandemic and there is a risk of transmission if there is such an activity.”
She ordered the removal of her “Run Sara Run” tarpaulins and billboards mounted by her supporters around many areas in the city, telling her supporters that posting them without paying government fees is prohibited.
“May I just remind everyone that when you install billboards and tarpaulins. There is regulation for that, one of which is that you need to pay government fees. So, usually, we remove them if they don’t go through the process. Let me know where these are posted, so that we can remove and return them to the owners,” she said.