Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte on Thursday, Nov. 18 took over the chairmanship of Lakas-CMD party that has fielded her as its vice presidential candidate in the 2022 national election.
Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. who offered his chairmanship to Duterte, will remain at his post as co-chairman after the party’s National Council unanimously supported a motion to that effect raised by party president and House Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.
“Malaki at mahalaga ang ibinigay na suporta ng partido sa akin upang matugunan ko ang hamon ng ating mga kababayan na sumabak sa pambansang pulitika (This is a huge and important suport the party has given men in order to respond to the challenge of our countrymen to participate in national politics),” Duterte said in accepting the chairmanship.
With Romualdez presiding, the Lakas-CMD National Council met via zoom conferencing in response to Revilla’s offer to step down and transfer the role of chairmanship to Duterte, daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“We are delighted and honored that Mayor Sara accepted the chairmanship of Lakas-CMD. We congratulate her for taking on this important role and we are confident that she will continue to inspire us more in working towards victory in the May 22 national elections,” Romualdez stated.
“Our chairman has graciously offered his position as Party Chair to Mayor Inday Sara Duterte. I move that we approve the nomination,” Romualdez said.
The motion received overwhelming support from among the party officials present.
Later, Romualdez nominated Revilla as co-chair and the party adopted the motion.
Mayor Duterte rise to party power was swift, taking place in just a span of six days when she was sworn in as new Lakas-CMD member.
On 10, she withdrew her candidacy as re-electionist mayor of Davao City. She resigned the following day as chairperson of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago, a regional party that she helped establish in 2018.
“Sa totoo lang, hindi ko kailanman inakala na darating ang araw na ito. Masaya po ako sa Davao City. Marami pa sana akong gustong gawin bilang mayor ng aming siyudad. Pero alam po natin ang nangyari. ( In truth, I never expected that this day will come. I was happy in Davao City. I would many things I wanted to do as mayor of our city. But we all know what happened)” she said.
“I humbly accept this challenge with the thoughts of our fellow Filipinos facing extraordinary challenges in the times of the Covid 19 pandemic,” she said.
The presidential daughter stated: “But I am confident that Lakas-CMD and its party members across the country will never abandon their commitment to the people.”