President Rodrigo Duterte seems to be longing for attention. He will be giving up the presidency in three and a half months and the awesome powers that go with it. He is quacking like a lame duck even before his successor is elected.
None of the candidates for president in the May 9 elections has actively sought Duterte’s backing despite his high rating in surveys. Some have wished for his endorsement, only because they needed the government machinery in their campaign. Having Duterte raise a candidate’s hand in campaign rallies and posters may not necessarily attract votes.
The Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) party (Cusi wing), which Duterte chairs, still has not decided whom to endorse.
In February, Duterte said he had yet to decide whether to endorse a candidate whom he favored to succeed him. “I may or I may not [endorse a candidate], but preferably I’d like to stay neutral,” Duterte said.
All other presidents after 1986 campaigned hard for their chosen successors, some of whom won, others lost.
After Duterte’s loyal aides, Senators Christopher Lawrence “Bong Go” and Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, withdrew their candidacy for the country’s top posts, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. would be the most logical choice for him to endorse, more so because the former senator has his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, as his vice-presidential running mate.
Instead of raising Marcos Jr.’s hand, however, Duterte described him as a “weak leader” despite the fact that he has been consistently topping the surveys on preferred presidential candidates.
In one speech in November, Duterte said a candidate for president who benefits from a famous father and has big chances of winning the presidency was into cocaine. Without naming the candidate, his description partly fits Marcos Jr.
Last Saturday, Sen. Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos said in an interview on DWIZ radio that her family has been sending messages to Duterte, seeking his help and endorsement for her brother’s presidential bid.
This came as Marcos Jr.’s campaign rallies appear to have sparse attendance compared with those of his closest rival, Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo, as they go around the vote-rich provinces.
Marcos Jr. may be topping the surveys, whose respondents are unknown and constitute a tiny percentage of the 65.74 million registered voters, while Robredo has a growing number of warm bodies turning up at her campaign sorties, as shown even in the so-called “Solid North,” the bailiwick of the Marcoses.
In a prerecorded interview with Pastor Apollo Quiboloy aired on Saturday on Sonshine Media Network International, Duterte said he hopes that his successor is someone who is “compassionate and decisive.” Further, he said the next president should be someone who served as mayor and a lawyer like him.
Also, he said his successor should be competent enough to address several issues confronting the country, including the South China Sea disputes with China.
Having described Marcos Jr. last November as a “weak leader,” Duterte must not have had the former senator in mind. The qualities he cited seem to fit Robredo more, who started working with the poor and marginalized as a lawyer, long before she entered politics in 2013.
Among the top six contenders for president, only Robredo is a lawyer, while Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso is a mayor.
Imee said they have been sending messages to Duterte, asking for an appointment and hoping to thresh out misunderstandings between the Marcos and Duterte families.
Given Duterte’s record of giving flip-flopping statements in public, it would not be far-fetched to say that he is only craving attention, specifically from his daughter Sara, and will change his tune as election day draws near.
Early this month, Duterte-Carpio said she and her father “have no conversations about [her] running for vice president.”
The week prior, the president said during an interview with Communications Secretary Martin Andanar that he had talked to his daughter only once about politics and that was “months ago.”
“We do not talk about politics — except for once. But I don’t want to discuss it because it was not good. It was between father and daughter. But it was also a conversation about politics,” Duterte said when asked about her daughter’s decision to team up with Marcos Jr.
Although Robredo has more of the qualities Duterte is looking for in a presidential candidate, it is unlikely that he would endorse his vocal critic. Besides, the Robredo camp may consider Duterte’s backing as a kiss of death.
But a heart-to-heart talk with his daughter may yet melt his heart and make him take back his criticisms of Marcos Jr.
Duterte must be feeling that it is indeed lonely at the top, as people say. Remember that he planned to run for vice president and then senator, because he did not want to be a lame duck. Now that his term is ending and he is facing the prospect of being a nobody after June 30, nobody seems to be genuinely wanting his support.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
This column also appeared in The Manila Times.
