Duterte Prepares For 2022 Retirement; Asks Sara Not To Run For President
President Duterte describes the presidency as a thankless job and that he would pity his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio if she gets trashed by critics once she joins the presidential race.
Amid calls from his partymates for him to seek the vice presidency in 2022, President Duterte maintained on Tuesday, June 8, that he was preparing for his retirement at the end of his six-year term.
In an interview with Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) pastor Apollo Quiboloy in Davao City on Tuesday night, Duterte also reiterated that he did not want his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio to run for president next year.
The President said he did not want people to think he wanted to perpetuate himself in power.
“Mahirap ‘yan, pastor, kasi mag-retire na ako, tapos this time ako ang mamili ng presidente, ‘pag manalo sabihin nila, ano ko lang ‘yan, perpetuate yourself in power, so mag-re-resist ako,” Duterte said.
He said he talked with Sara on Sunday night, June 6, during which he repeated that she should not seek the presidency next year.
“Si Inday, kinausap ko talaga,” he said. “I told her, do not run. Do not ever commit the mistake of running for presidency."
His party the PDP-Laban has passed a resolution on May 31 urging the 76-year-old Duterte to run for vice president and to pick the standard-bearer in 2022.
Some of his supporters are pushing for a Duterte-Duterte tandem but Sara herself dismissed this, saying her father had declared that she is not fit to be president because she is a woman.
Read more: Sara: No Duterte-Duterte Tandem In 2022; Gibo Wants To Be Her Running Mate
Told that his supporters wanted continuity of Duterte-style leadership, Duterte said: “Ako naman, I am ready for retirement.”
“But if you ask what is my greatest achievement, in a very humble way, ako pastor I exposed the oligarchy in the Philippines,” he said, also noting his campaign against illegal drugs and corruption.
He stressed the presidency is a thankless job. “I do not mean to insult the Filipino people," Duterte said, but "wala ka talagang makuha dyan sa presidente, pagod lang."
"Except one, mayroon lang isang reward dyan na at the end of the day, tingin ka sa kuwarto mo, tingin ka sa mga papel na maraming pirmahan, and you will say you’ve done something for your countrymen. ‘Yun lang ang self-fulfillment mo dyan,” the President said.
The President revealed he also told Sara that: “Unless mangurakot ka (you engage in corruption), you will become a millionaire or billionaire...but is that the life you want?”
For an annual salary of around P 200,000, Duterte said the work of the president is difficult because critics would be harsh.
“Sige ka trabaho, bababuyin ka, you do not deserve it, anak kita maawa ako sa ‘yo,” Duterte said, adding he told Sara that he would not be able to take her being hit by critics like Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who accused the family of amassing ill-gotten wealth.
Duterte said he would just probably stay as “border” at the KJC’s spiritual mountain in Davao after his retirement.
Earlier on Tuesday, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the President would be weighing the opinions of his political allies who are also discouraging him to run for the vice president in next year’s elections.
There have been varying opinions on whether Duterte can run for vice president in 2022.
Roque welcomed what he described as the “well-meaning remarks” of former House speaker and Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano, who said that it would be better if the Chief Executive would “just be the elder statesman” in the country than run for vice president.
Cayetano was Duterte’s running mate in 2016.
Roque maintained that the President has not decided yet on his next political move. He said suggestions are welcome because the Chief Executive is still in the process of making a decision.
In 2015, Duterte replaced Martin Diño, PDP-Laban’s presidential bet for the 2016 elections, after dilly-dallying. Diño is now undersecretary for barangay affairs at the Department of the Interior and Local Government. The Commission on Elections declared Diño as a nuisance candidate.
Roque said the issue of politics was not discussed during the President’s meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases last Monday, June 7.
He added the IATF meeting was one of the shortest that they had and that Duterte also did not comment on the calls for his daughter Sara to run for president.
