DAVAO CITY—Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has officially resigned from the Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) political party.
Davao del Norte Governor Anthony del Rosario, who also serves as HNP
spokesman, told the BusinessMirror on Thursday that Duterte-Carpio transmitted via e-mail a scanned handwritten note in two paragraphs to the headquarters of the HNP at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday about her resignation.
Del Rosario said that Mayor Sara’s resignation came as a surprise to him, even as he admitted that he was aware of online discussions about the Davao City mayor likely taking the presidential campaign route through the Lakas-CMD party.
Del Rosario cautioned, however, that “everything is not confirmed.”
He also admitted that HNP was surprised with themayor’s withdrawal of her certificate of candidacy for the mayoral post in Davao City on November 9.
Del Rosario said he spoke to Duterte-Carpio on October 8 when he was told that the latter would run for mayor. He said he followed this up a few days later when he was told again that she was sticking to the mayoral candidacy.
“I was surprised,” he said.
Del Rosario said he had already informed members of HNP and that the party is expected to convene anytime. Duterte-Carpio is the chairman of the HNP.
Hoping for the best–Bong Go
SEN. Christopher “Bong” Go said that he does not want to speculate on plans of the Duterte family following the withdrawal of Mayor Sara Duterte from the Davao City mayoral race in the 2022 elections.
He, however, stressed that he is “hoping for the best.”
“Ayoko munang mag-speculate ‘no kung ano ‘yung plano ng pamilya at ako naman po ay may partido kasama si Pangulong Duterte, desisyon niya po ito, at desisyon ng partido na tumakbo po ako na bise presidente,” said Go in an ambush interview after delivering aid to struggling residents of Antipolo City on Tuesday, November 9.
“So, ibig sabihin, 39 days na po since I filed my candidacy as a vice president last October 2. Binoto po ako ng tao [noong 2019], mahigit 20.6 million Filipinos ang bumoto sa akin,” he added.
Whatever the decision of the Duterte family and his party PDP-Laban is, Go said that he is “the least of their concerns.” He also advised the public to wait and see what might happen in the next days.
“Unang-una, mahal na mahal ko po si Pangulong Duterte, may utang na loob po ako sa kanya, at mabigat po sa amin mga Bisaya ‘yung utang na loob, diyan ko po natutunan sa kanya ’yan, at ayaw ko po siyang bigyan ng sakit ng dibdib dahil lang sa pulitika,” said Go.
“Sabi ko, I’m the least of their worries. Basta isa lang naman ang layunin ko, nabanggit ko kanina ang layunin ko lang naman po ay magserbisyo sa kapwa ko Pilipino kahit na anong kapasidad po, patuloy po akong magseserbisyo. Antayin nalang po natin sa mga susunod na araw kung ano po ‘yung magiging desisyon ng pamilya Duterte at ng partido namin, ng PDP,” he added.
Sara Duterte revealed on Tuesday that she has officially dropped her reelection candidacy for Davao City mayor. Vice Mayor Sebastian Duterte, her younger brother, abandoned his reelection candidacy and may run for the city’s top post as his sister’s replacement candidate.