Malacañang is leaving it to the ruling party PDP-Laban to decide its next step after its petition to reopen the filing of the certificate of candidacy (COC) for the national elections was rejected.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles made the statement after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) unanimously denied the petition of the party's faction led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi to reopen the filing of the COCs, saying there were no meritorious grounds to grant the party's request.
In a virtual presser this week, Nograles, who is also the executive vice president of the Cusi-led wing of PDP-Laban, said Malacañang was leaving the next course of action to the party.
"Well, we’ll leave it up to PDP-Laban as a party to decide their next course of action," he said.
"As I know it, it was a question of law presented by PDP-Laban to Comelec at may kasagutan na nga po ang Comelec sa kanila (and the Comelec responded)," he added.
"Nasa partido na po ng PDP-Laban, if any, kung ano ang magiging next step nila pagkatapos po niyan (It's now up to PDP-Laban what their next steps will be, if any)," he continued.
President Duterte's PDP-Laban has no presidential candidate for the May 2022 national elections following the last-minute withdrawal from the race of Senator Ronald Dela Rosa.
Following Dela Rosa's withdrawal, Duterte's long-time aide Senator Bong Go, who originally filed his COC for vice president, filed his COC for president under a minor allied party in November, only to back out from the presidential race weeks after.
The President himself filed his COC for senator in November but, like Go, eventually withdrew his candidacy. Malacañang said Duterte chose to focus on addressing the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
President Duterte had said he will not support the presidential bid of Senator Manny Pacquiao, a member of the PDP-Laban faction led by Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III. Duterte also said he will not support the candidacy of former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., despite the latter's links with his daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.