DAVAO CITY Mayor Sara Duterte has resigned Thursday from her own regional political party Hugpong ng Pagbabago only to join the Lakas-CMD, a national political party which she could use as a platform to declare her presidential candidacy.
(Photos from Mayor Sara Duterte's Facebook page) |
Duterte also posted photos of her before and after taking her oath as member of the Lakas-CMD. “Tonight, I formally became a member of Lakas-CMD,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
Lakas-CMD
president and House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez and Lakas-CMD Chairman
Senator Bong Revilla were with Duterte.
“The officials and members of Lakas-CMD are
elated to welcome Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte as new member of our party. We
had long been inviting Mayor Inday to join our party as we are all impressed
with her sterling qualities as a leader and we saw up close her exemplary work
ethic as chief executive of Davao City,” Romualdez said.
Lakas-CMD has earlier fielded Anna Velasco as its
presidential bet with Lyle Uy as her running mate for. Velasco is expected to
withdraw her candidacy should Duterte decides to run.
Surigao
del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay also told CNN Philippines that they are open to
having Duterte as a possible substitute standard bearer. Lakas-CMD also is
allied with Duterte’s regional party, but she cannot run for president unless
she joins a national political party.
Duterte withdrew from her re-election bid on November 9 and was replaced
by her brother, Davao City Vice Mayor Sebastian Duterte, who also recalled his
re-election bid to replace her sister.
Sebastian was substituted by lawyer Melchor Quitain, son and
namesake of the chief presidential legal counsel, who is a native of Davao City.
Duterte’s withdrawal has fuelled speculations that she will
run for the presidency, although she has not officially made any announcement yet.
She previously said that she will not run for the presidency after her father,
President Rodrigo Duterte, accepted the nomination of his PDP-Laban party to
run for vice president only to withdraw later. His political party then pushed the
president to run for senator instead.
The president, who is facing an investigation by the
International Criminal Court (ICC) over allegations of extrajudicial killings
on the government’s bloody war on drugs, previously told his daughter to seek
the presidency with his long-time aide-turned-senator Bong Go as her
running mate, but the young Duterte rejected this although independent surveys
showed her topping the polls.
The ageing Duterte originally wanted Go to run for
president with him as vice president, but this move was met with public
criticism and aggravated by a dip in the president’s popularity.
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