Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Wednesday called out her father, President Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Bong Go for saying that their 2022 plans depended on whether or not she would seek the presidency.
The younger Duterte said her father told her personally that he would run for vice president next year with Go as presidential candidate. She said the chat was "not a pleasant event".
The President also left two letters with her, one explaining why she should endorse the Go-Duterte tandem and another suggesting that she takes Go as her vice president, the mayor said.
"I strongly suggest to the President and Sen. Go to own up publicly their decision to run as a tandem. If they can confirm it privately, then I do not see the reason why they cannot be candid about it to the public," Duterte-Carpio said.
"I respectfully advise them to stop talking about me and make me the reason for them running or not running," she said.
Duterte on Tuesday confirmed that he was running for vice president as requested by some of his partymates in PDP-Laban, but a portion of his speech was cut from the broadcast where he said he would drop his bid should his daughter Sara run for president.
The Davao City mayor also asked Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel and Ronwald Munsayac of the PDP-Laban faction supporting Sen. Manny Pacquiao to "stop blaming [her] for the sad state of their political party."
Munsayac had claimed that the Go-Duterte tandem was only being used as a "smokescreen" for their real candidate, who is supposedly Sara.
"It is not my fault that no one among you is a leader worthy of the respect of the majority. Do not blame me for the sitcom that your party has been reduced to," Duterte-Carpio said.
"I refuse to be a political punching bag for a party in complete disarray," she added.
Duterte-Carpio topped the list of preferred presidential candidates for the 2022 elections, according to the June 2021 Pulse Asia survey. She however has yet to firm up her plans for the upcoming polls except to say that she was open to run for the presidency.
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