Lakas-CMD party has fielded candidates for president and vice president whom newly-sworn member Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio may replace before the Nov, 15 deadline for substitution set by the Commission on Elections.
One Anna Capela Velasco and a certain Lyle Fernando Uy filed their certificates of candidacy as aspirants for president and vice president, respectively, representing Lakas-CMD.
There have been speculations that Duterte-Carpio will replace either Velasco and Uy who are reportedly mere placeholders for substitution.
Velasco and Uy could not be reached for comment.
It will be recalled that House Deputy Speaker Prospero Pichay, Lakas-CMD secretary general, has spilled the beans on the party’s plans when he admitted to the media that placeholders have been put in place by the party to pave the way for substitution.
The House official later retracted his statement.
However, recent events over the week have indicated that Pichay was apparently telling the truth.
Duterte-Carpio withdrew her candidacy for a third and final term as mayor of Davao City while her brother, incumbent Vice Mayor Baste Duterte gave up his bid for re-election, apparently to fill his elder sister’s post.
On Wednesday, Mayor Duterte-Carpio resigned as member and chairperson of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago, a regional political party she formed in 2018.
Her decision to join Lakas-CMD which has produced two presidents, former President Fidel V. Ramos and former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, has supported speculations that she will eventually run for president or vice president.
Under election rules, Duterte-Carpio cannot be accepted as replacement for a candidate for a national post unless she and the placeholders are both members of the national political party that the latter represented in his or her certificate of candidacy.