Saying the track record matters over name, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s first cousin Nuelle Duterte threw her support for Senator Kiko Pangilinan’s candidacy in the upcoming May elections.

During the virtual meeting of Filipino-Americans on Sunday, April 10, Nuelle Duterte went against her own family and backed Pangilinan’s vice-presidential bid for his track record.

Sara Duterte’s cousin noted that Pangilinan’s “Hello Pagkain, Goodbye Gutom” battle cry under his agriculture platform is relevant to Mindanao.

“I think would be really relevant especially in Mindanao, not just Davao, because there’s a lot of farmlands, a lot of agricultural lands there. In that sense, his advocacies and his work are relevant to the people of Mindanao,” Nuelle said.

Mindanao is the top producer of bananas in the country that in 2021, 84 percent of the Philippines’ banana production came from the island, with Davao Region as the top contributor at 2.40 million metric tons.

But despite Mindanao’s rich agricultural produce, it still has the largest share of the country’s poor population, accounting for 40.4 percent in 2021, according to the Asian Development Bank.

In Davao Region, around 195,000 families consider themselves poor.

Sara’s popularity as a survey frontrunner should be no match to Pangilinan’s track record, Nuelle claimed.

“It’s important to look at the plans of candidates, to look at not only their work history and their educational history. But to look at what they want to do, what they want to give, what they want to advocate. And in terms of that, it has to be concrete and properly laid out,” she said.

“That’s the beauty of Team TroPa (Robredo-Pangilinan), particularly Senator Kiko. They have very concrete, specific plans ,” Nuelle added.

READ: 'Leni-Kiko tayo!' Kapampangan farmers raise Pangilinan's hands

A psychiatrist by profession, she previously said that Sara was not competent to serve as president. Her assessment remained the same now when her cousin opted instead to run for vice president in the 2022 elections.

Nuelle said her assessment of the Dutertes was rooted in her personal experience, political observations, and her study of their characters from afar.

“ a sense of entitlement when it comes to public office. Not just three or four of them. It’s a familial sense of entitlement to being in government and having positions in government,” she noted of Rodrigo, Sara, Pulong, and Baste.

“It can be a bad thing because it is the only career path that they look at as possible for them. And that they are not able to explore other areas in their lives,” she added.

The Dutertes have been in power in Davao City for over two decades.

President Duterte was elected six times there until he won as president in 2016 while Sara took over from 2010 to 2013, and from 2016 until the present.

Pulong is running for re-election as Davao congressman while Baste is set to replace Sara as Davao City mayor for the 2022 term.

READ: Sara Duterte running for President in May 2022 a case of political dynasty—Pimentel

Nuelle said this “monopolization of power” in Davao City led to the moral decay of Davaoeños, who now believe that the Dutertes are the answer to the country’s problems.

“The impact on Davao City is that they have a particularly narrow view of the world. If it is not obvious yet, based on the president’s statements and policies, his view of leadership is very narrow and very limited,” she said, adding that the President was “not able to think outside of his own box” and his children followed the same approach.

There was only a “little bit” of change in terms of the social programs in Davao City since Sara became mayor, but Nuelle said everything was left “mostly the same.”

“It limits Davao, and if you expand it in national coverage, it limits the potential of the Philippines if the country remains to be under their leadership,” she added.