DAVAO CITY – Mayor Sara Duterte filed her Certificate of Candidacy (COC) on Monday but without her running mate for the May 2019 elections. She was accompanied by her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio.
In an interview, Mayor Sara said she asked younger sibling Sebastian “Baste” Duterte to be her running mate but the latter remains undecided.
“He changes his mind,” Sara told reporters.
Sara said it is now up to her father, President Rodrigo Duterte, to decide on Baste’s potential candidacy.
Still, Sara said another candidate may fill in if it is not possible for Baste to run.
“Wait until the last minute of the filing of the COC on Wednesday, October 17,” Sara told reporters.
Sara also brushed speculation of a possible substitution, saying, “No I will not resort to that.”
Sara led the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) congressional and City Council candidates in alliance with the Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod (HTL), the local party that President Duterte formed in early 2000 when he was still mayor of Davao City.
Among the HNP-HTL candidates are incumbent and returning politicians, while others are barangay officials. The Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR), Halila Sudagar, is also in the slate of HNP.
HNP-HTL has nine city council candidates for the first district, 16 for the second district, and 10 for the third district.
The party is fielding former Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte for the first congressional district, returning congressman Vincent Garcia replacing sister Mylene Garcia Albano for the second district, and returning congressman Isidro Ungab to replace his brother Alberto Ungab for the third congressional district. (Lilian C Mellejor/PNA)
