DAVAO CITY—One eyebrow-raising meeting after another.
This time, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio met her former chief of police here, and now presidential aspirant, Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa during a noontime meeting on Monday at the City Hall.
Just like her meeting in Cebu City over the weekend with another presidential aspirant, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the Duterte-Dela Rosa meeting was kept under wraps. Even many City Hall officials did not know such a meeting transpired there.
Dela Rosa posted a photograph of him and the mayor after the meeting and captioned it, “This is just a teaser for our meeting with Mayor Inday Sara minutes ago at Davao City Hall.” Duterte-Carpio reposted the photograph in her official Facebook page, and wrote “Thank you Senator Bato Dela Rosa for your advice and words of wisdom.”
The mayor also appeared in a televised radio broadcast an hour later in her regular public affairs program over the city government-run Davao City Disaster Radio.
She did not touch on these meetings with Marcos and Dela Rosa as expected on her program, where she had repeatedly clarified that the program would only tackle the Covid-19 pandemic and other city government affairs.
She talked only about her isolation after getting infected with the Covid-19 virus, and the easing of pandemic protocols, such as the lifting of curfew and allowing the purchase of liquor, when the city was placed under moderate Alert 3 level.
Davao del Norte Gov. Anthony del Rosario, spokesman of the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), only said “no comment” when asked for details on the meeting between Duterte-Carpio and Dela Rosa and on the purported statement of Duterte that she only asked Marcos how the HNP could help his candidacy.
The mayor has repeatedly rejected calls for her to run for president, despite earlier attempts by her father and Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go to have her throw her hat into the ring.
However, speculations persist on her eventual final decision, since the deadline for candidate substitution is still on November 15.