DAVAO CITY—Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio posted a second disclaimer to many reported moves of high-profile politicians seeking to join her in tandem for the top two elective positions in the country, including the alleged offer of Presidential aide, and now Senator Christopher Lawrence Go, to be her running mate.
Her statement in her Facebook account, posted late evening of Wednesday, also belied the claim of her father, President Duterte, that Sen. Imee Marcos visited her here because she was interested to team up with Sara next year.
“This is not true. She [Imee] visited in Davao last May 29 to personally relay her birthday wishes. So far, this is the only visit she has made to me in Davao,” Duterte-Carpio said.
Senators Go and Sherwin Gatchalian were the two politicians that “I can confirm who have personally expressed their offer to run as my Vice President,” However, Go’s and Gatchalian’s offers were coursed through common friends, the mayor said.
Go had been saying he was not interested to run as President alongside President Duterte (who earlier said he could run as vice president if Go throws his hat into the ring) and would rather leave the post to the Presidential daughter, if she decided to.
Billboards on a Win-Sara tandem have been put up here, meanwhile.
To the other names linked to her as interested to be her tandem, Mayor Sara said she knew of their insinuations only from reports in the social media and certain groups advocating their wish for their tandem. This included:
Former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro who she said she only knew “of certain groups wanting to form a tandem but I cannot confirm if these were true.” Teodoro, with his wife, came to Davao City on June 3 this year, and Camarines Sur former Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. described it as a “coming out party to show the existence of a strong combination.” Andaya has been floating the idea of a Sara-Gibo tandem;
Former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, House Majority Floor Leader, Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Sen. Sonny Angara, whose supposed intention she read only from news reports.
No cracks
Duterte-Carpio belied insinuations that her previous disclaimer shows a crack between her and her father, as well as Senator Go.
“I do not hold a grudge against Sen. Go concerning his relationship with PRRD, I am not the keeper of the President, he is allowed to have friends as I am,” she said.
“And why should I be furious about the need for an appointment to see the President? What matters is I get to see the President,” she added.
She said she was already used to and familiar with “the matter of making an appointment” to see PRRD, which may be odd to many, “but it is a normal thing in our family since the late 1990’s.”
“The source of this article clearly does not know me or the dynamics inside our family,” she said, referring to the article, “All gloves off! Sara v Bong Go/Honeylet is proxy fight between Duterte’s first and second families” posted in the web site.
Duterte-Carpio also assailed another story about the rift between the trio, saying the sources of the article “do not know me as well.”
The mayor said: “I am not angry at President Duterte or Sen. Bong Go nor am I envious of the power that they hold. The responsibility that comes with power is exhausting; there is nothing to be jealous about it.”
She also rejected allegations that Davao City got “regular political fund allocation” owing to her privilege as the presidential daughter. “Those who know me can certainly say that money do not fascinate me; the things that I desire in life have no monetary value.”