Sealed! Bongbong- Sara tandem is officially on photo Mayor Inday Sara Duterte
Elections

Sealed! Bongbong- Sara tandem is officially on

Nov 14, 2021, 4:44 AM
Rose De La Cruz

Rose De La Cruz

Writer/Columnist

Presidential daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio filed her certificate of candidacy for vice president under the Lakas-CMD party which the camp of presidential aspirant Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. immediately grabbed by adopting her as its VP candidate.

PRESIDENTIAL daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio’s journey to national politics was finally cleared.

This, after she filed her candidacy as vice president under the Lakas-CMD party on Saturday, after which she was immediately adopted by Partido Federal ng Filipinas of presidential aspirant Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to be his VP bet.

With two political parties backing her, she is a lot closer now to the Palace.

Her spokesperson, Liloan, Cebu Mayor Christina Garcia-Frasco said in a statement that Sara, 43, entered the vice- presidential race by way of substitution after the political party’s original candidate withdrew.

Shortly after her candidacy papers were filed by a representative, the political party of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has registered to run for president, adopted Duterte-Carpio as its vice- presidential choice.

Garcia-Frasco said Duterte-Carpio would be releasing a statement shortly.

Surprise

Duterte-Carpio's decision to seek the country's No. 2 job came as a surprise as she has led opinion polls throughout this year as the preferred presidential candidate.

"It was a surprise," Antonio La Vina, professor of law and politics at the Ateneo de Manila University told Reuters. "Next surprise is VP for whom."

In the Philippines, president is elected separately from the vice president.

Digong, Sara’s 76-year-old father is barred by the Constitution from seeking a second consecutive six-year term.

Digong for VP too?

He said last month he was retiring from politics before changing his mind and announced that he might instead run for vice president with Sen. Bong Go as his running mate.

It remains to be seen however, if Digong would indeed challenge his daughter or if his camp was just playing a long and confusing political game.

Apart from Marcos and Go, other presidential aspirants in next year's polls include former boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, Vice President Leni Robredo, Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso, Senator Panfilo Lacson.

It has been a loaded week for Duterte just so she can run for vice president in the 2022 polls.

On Wednesday, she withdrew her candidacy for reelection, with her brother Sebastian also backing out of the vice mayoralty race so their clan can retain its grip on the progressive southern city.

The next day, she resigned from regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago then joined the national party Lakas-CMD since only members of a national party can vie for a national position.

For Lakas-CMD's part, Senator Bong Revilla, party chairman, said Saturday they are "in the process of formalizing the adoption of a standard-bearer who Inday Sara will be running with as her president."

"Abangan po natin ang Dream Tandem na aakay sa bansa tungo sa hinahangad nating pagbangon mula sa pandemya at tuloy-tuloy na progreso," Revilla said.

Marcos told SMNI earlier on Saturday that a Marcos-Duterte tandem will be a strong tandem, and ideal for him and other allied parties.

To say that Marcos and Duterte would make for a strong 2022 tandem is an understatement.

Marcos is number two in the latest September 2021 Pulse Asia presidential preference survey – second only to Sara herself.

The Marcos-Duterte tandem also brings together two electoral bailiwicks – the so-called “Solid North” and the Mindanao vote, which Sara dominates in the pre-election surveys on possible presidential aspirants (47% in the latest Pulse Asia survey, with Senator Manny Pacquiao’s 15% a distant second.

Marcos, notably, is weakest in the Visayas and Mindanao (5% and 8% voter preference, according to the same September 2021 survey).

Sara also leads in the Visayas, but not by a lot – 23% of those surveyed said they would pick her if she would run for president, but Pacquiao isn’t too far behind with 21% of respondents picking him if presidential elections were held during the survey period.

Tags: #SaraDuterte-Carpio, #COCforVP, #Lakas-CMD, #BongbongMarcos, #politics


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