Malacañang-backed PDP-Laban will no longer enjoy the support of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and her regional party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago, in its campaign for the 2022 national elections.
Mayor Duterte, daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte, made this clear Thursday, Sept. 9, notwithstanding the nomination of her father as the official vice presidential candidate of PDP-Laban (Cusi wing) a day before.
Senator Christopher "Bong" Go has been proclaimed PDP-Laban's presidential bet.
“No, I will not share my light this time,” the HNP chairperson said in a response to a query from the media on whether or not her father’s party can expect HNP’s help like it did during the 2019 senatorial race.
Even before she could reveal her plans for the 2022 elections, the Davao City chief executive and the HNP already renewed alliances with several pro-administration parties, but not the PDP-Laban.
The agreements have been discussed by involved party leaders and the HNP and are expected to be signed as soon as Mayor Duterte confirms she is running for president. Among those who are willing to support her presidential bid are the Lakas-CMD, Nacionalista Party, National Unity Party and the People's Reform Party.
The city mayor did not comment on the senatorial line-up that PDP-Laban announced during its national convention on Wednesday in San Fernando, Pampanga.
It will be recalled that she led a nationwide campaign for 13 senatorial candidates in 2019 as head of the HNP. mong the PDP-Laban members included in the list were incumbent Senators Christopher “Bong” Go; Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa and Francis Tolentino.
She disclosed in the message to reporters that with President Duterte being named as the vice presidential bet of PDP-Laban, her presidential bid, if there is any, has been set aside to give way to her father’s candidacy.
The presidential daughter explained that there is an agreement in the family that only one among them can run for a national position.
Asked about her relationship with the president, Mayor Duterte said nothing has changed.
“Our politics do not interfere with our familial relationship. Iba ang trabaho, iba ang pamilya. Walang personalan (Work and family do not mix. Nothing personal),” she stressed.
Meanwhile, Davao Occidental Gov. Claude Bautista, HNP president, appeared unconvinced that Mayor Sara Duterte has made her final decision on the presidency.
“What is important is that she has the desire to serve the people and everything will follow. We believe in her leadership and I will always believe in her and I will always be her avid fan no matter what now and forever,” Bautista said in a Viber message to reporters assigned to the HNP.