Senator Leila de Lima on Monday took potshots on the alleged clamor of President Duterte’s allies to push for a “Duterte-Duterte” tandem in the upcoming May 2022 elections, saying more people are now aware of the political tactics of the administration.
“Here they go again. Kunwari, it's ‘destiny’ or if the ‘clamor’ is ‘strong’, blah blah blah. But we're no fools to not see that it's exactly what they're cooking now — a Duterte-Duterte or Go-Duterte tandem for 2022. Resist we must!” De Lima’s tweet read.
De Lima made the statement after presidential spokesman Harry Roque recently said that Duterte will “leave it to God” whether or not he will run for vice president in next year's elections.
Duterte made the same statement in 2015 when he asked if he would seek the presidency.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo had also earlier floated the idea of Duterte running as vice president while his daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio fights for the presidency.
Panelo even suggested that an alternative presidential ticket is for the President possibly becoming the running mate of his former aide and now Senator Christopher “Bong” Go.
De Lima, however, said it is already obvious that Duterte-Carpio and Go are in the running to clinch the much-coveted Duterte anointment.
But a blessing from Duterte, she said, can actually “be a kiss of death.”
“Whether or not this will do them any good in terms of getting more votes is really a big question, as the power of endorsement of an incumbent President – especially one who has crashed the economy and bungled the pandemic response – is definitely not automatic,” De Lima said.
“The two administration frontrunners might have to be careful in that a Duterte anointment can actually be a kiss of death,” De Lima said.
“The 2022 elections will not only be about Duterte’s treason and the Chinese invasion of the WPS and our territories there. It will also be about poverty, the economy, and providing opportunities to the lot of impoverished Filipinos made worse by this administration’s bungling of the pandemic response,” she added.