Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter and incumbent Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio slammed opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV yesterday for claiming that her father will ask her to run for the presidency in 2022 to stay in power.
Trillanes has been one of President Duterte’s strong critics, hitting him with allegations concerning supposed irregularities and unexplained wealth.
Carpio addressed Trillanes on her Facebook page, urging him to stop harassing her as she can make it “difficult” for the senator.
“Leave me alone, Senator Trillanes. The last time a person irked me, I made sure to make it difficult for him to bring me down,” she wrote while citing the failed mayoral bid of former rival House Speaker Prospero Nograles in 2010.
“Let me repeat, do not bother me and my slot will be available for a yellow Senator for the 2019 elections. President Duterte imagines you will be shot, on the other hand, I will make sure you are alive and in pain,” she mentioned.
“I have been described as heartless by my mother, please do not anger me so that you may remain relevant for the future generation,” she warned. “And you should listen to my mother.”
Senator Trillanes brushed off Carpio’s statement by telling reporters yesterday that he doesn’t have time to deal with her. “I think I won’t deal with it anymore,” he said in Filipino. “I don’t have time for that.”
The senator made the claim on Tuesday during the general assembly of Tindig Pilipinas, a coalition created last year to resist President Duterte’s policies.
He says President Duterte has three options to help keep him in power: by declaring martial law and having a “revolutionary government,” charger change, or pushing for his eldest daughter’s candidacy in 2019 as senator as well as in 2022 as president if needed.
Government-run Philippine News Agency quoted Trillanes saying in Filipino, “The Philippine president’s Option C is to push Sara Duterte for president in 2022. But first, he will push her for senator in 2019. Are we going to allow a Duterte forever?”
And it seems that the Duterte family’s feud with Trillanes is far from over.
Today, President Duterte’s son, the former mayor of Davao City Paolo Duterte, said he will also file a case against the senator for allegedly linking him to a PHP6.4 billion (US$120,098,727) shabu cache which was smuggled into the Philippines, ABS-CBN News reports.
Paolo mentions that he will sue Trillanes for “viciously destroying my name, maligning my reputation and integrity, and for deliberately manufacturing lies and spreading black propaganda against me.”
The senator has yet to release a statement on the issue.
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