Presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte said today that she would seek divine guidance to decide on whether or not she should run for president of the Philippines.
Sara said this today during an interview with Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, which was broadcast on his Facebook account. Quiboloy is known as an ally of her father, President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Everything will be easier if it is the plan of God so before I think about that, I should ask God first if this is for me,” she said in a mix of English and Filipino. “For us not to make any mistakes, we need to pray for wisdom, on how to go about it and how to decide.”
It has been long rumored that Sara has plans to run for president. Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in February that she could become the next president after her father. However, President Duterte said in June that he has discouraged her from running for president because she will just “suffer” and he would end up feeling bad for her.
In a text message sent to ABS-CBN News in April, Sara said she was not thinking of running for president and that she plans to run for another term as Davao City mayor in 2022.
During the interview, Quiboloy supported Sara’s decision.
“I think in the coming years there will be drastic changes in Mayor Inday’s (Sara) life, for the good,” Quiboloy said in English and Filipino. “I think we will help her pray to help her prepare for that in the coming days. What she said was correct, that it’s only God who plans everything, especially when you’re running for the highest position [in the country].”
Should Sara become president, she will follow the footsteps of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, currently the only second-generation Philippine president in history. Arroyo’s father Diosdado Macapagal was the country’s ninth president, from 1961 to 1965. Arroyo became the country’s 14th president, from 2001 to 2010.
It was also in her interview today that Sara explained why she is asking the national government to exempt Davao City from martial law, which is currently being implemented on the entire Mindanao island. Appearing somewhat hesitant to discuss the topic, she said she prefers a different implementation of martial law.
“If there is martial law, it has to be truly strict, real sense martial law where the military takes over civilian functions. That means there is no mayor, just the military. There will be no [civilian] courts if there will be military courts.”
However, the 1987 Constitution says that in cases of martial law, the civil courts should continue to function and its jurisdiction will not be taken over by military courts.
“A state of martial law does not suspend the operation of the Constitution, nor supplant the functioning of the civil courts or legislative assemblies, nor authorize the conferment of jurisdiction on military courts and agencies over civilians where civil courts are able to function, nor automatically suspend the privilege of the writ,” it states.
Sara said that the Davao City government is functioning properly, which means there’s no need for martial law.
“Since we saw in our assessment that our security sector is in place, their coordination is very good. The way that Task Force Davao and Davao City police office functions are OK. We still have a city hall, we still have our courts, civilian functions are OK, so I think it is best maybe that Davao City be exempted from [the] coverage of martial law,” she said.
Sara also said that foreign ambassadors have complained to her that investors are paying higher business insurance because of martial law. This, she said, has added to the cost of doing business in Davao City.
The martial law in Mindanao is expected to be lifted at the end of this year but President Duterte said he is open to extending it further. Martial law was first declared in Mindanao on May 2017 due to the Marawi siege.
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