While Davao City Mayor and presidential daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio may not be seeking a Senate seat in the 2019 elections, looks like she’s gunning for a seat in the House of Representatives instead.
“I do not have plans for running a national post. In the 2019 elections, I have plans for running in the first congressional district of Davao City,” she told reporters yesterday.
Her father, who had served as mayor of Davao City for decades, also served one term in congress in 1998.
In the Philippines, senators are elected to one six-year term and can run for re-election once, while congressmen and local positions (mayor, vice mayor and city councilors) are elected to three-year terms, but can serve up to three consecutive terms. Presidents and vice presidents serve one six-year term and cannot run for re-election.
“If I were to run as senator, I will not announce it today. It’s too early. But there really are no plans,” she said.
Duterte-Carpio led the launch of “Tapang at Malasakit (Courage and Compassion) Alliance for the Philippines,” consisting of groups that supported her father in his presidential bid last year.
Sara Duterte said in a speech during yesterday’s event that “she believed in dissent because it is a facet of democracy.” But her problem with the current opposition is that “it’s a different matter altogether if you lie just to oppose.”
READ: Tindig Pilipinas: Duterte ‘paranoid and insecure’ for threats of revolutionary government
However, she said she would not use the new group to further her political career.
In a speech before hundreds of red-clad supporters, Duterte-Carpio said her father may be “very imperfect,” but the public needs to rally behind him to achieve the change he promised.
“Our president is human, very very imperfect, but he is a wrangler, and we only have six years to take that warrior spirit. Let’s use him to create a better future for our country” she said.
“I call on supporters of President Duterte to unite. Let us set aside personal politics that [have] torn our country every time we have a new president.”
with reports from ABS-CBN News
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