Former presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said on Saturday he advised former President Rodrigo Duterte to run as his daughter Sara Duterte’s vice president in the 2028 national elections.
“Mr. President, ang advice ko sa’yo tumakbo ka munang mayor. Kailangan mo ang Davao. Ipakita mo na you’re leading that,” Panelo said at a press conference in Quezon City.
“And then sa 2028, tumakbo kang vice president ng anak mo. Pag Duterte-Duterte (tandem), lahat ng kaalyado bumaliktad, babalik sayo kasi siguradong kayong panalo,” he added.
(Mr. President, my advice to you is that you run for mayor first. You need Davao. Show them that you’re leading that. And then in 2028, run as your daughter’s vice president. If there is a Duterte-Duterte tandem, all your allies that turned their backs on you will return because you will surely win.)
Panelo said Duterte did not directly accept nor refuse his suggestion, but the former president told him he was “open to any possibility.”
“Ganoon ang mga Duterte. Hindi mo malalaman ang gagawin nila,” Panelo said.
“Sabi niya (former president) sige ituloy mo advocacy mo ng Duterte-Duterte, tingnan natin,” he added.
(The Dutertes are like that. You never know what they will do. The former president told me to continue my advocacy of a Duterte-Duterte. Let’s see.)
The vice president stated last week that she did not have any decisions yet about her political future because the next presidential election is still four years away.
Several polls showed the vice president topping the list of potential presidential candidates in 2028.
Duterte served as the country’s 16th president from 2016 to 2022.
He was succeeded by Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the running mate of his daughter.
In June, the younger Duterte quit as education secretary and vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
The vice president said her resignation was made in consideration of the department’s best interest and concern for teachers and students.
She also apologized to the followers of Kingdom of Jesus Christ founder Apollo Quiboloy, a close ally of the Dutertes who is facing charges of human trafficking and sexual abuse, for encouraging them to vote for Marcos in the 2022 presidential election. — VBL, GMA Integrated News
