AFTER seeing its presidential standard bearers Senator Ronald Bato dela Rosa and Senator Christopher “Bong” Go withdraw their candidacies for the top two positions in the 2022 national elections, the ruling PDP-Laban Cusi wing on Sunday ordered partymates to “toe the line,”even as it assured them President Duterte himself “will personally lead our campaign.”
Triggering swirling speculations on what Duterte was up to, Dela Rosa on Saturday withdrew his certificate of candidacy (COC) for president at the Commission on Elections, adding he was instructed by Cusi to do so.
His running mate, Senator Go, also withdrew his COC as PDP-Laban vice presidential contender, and instead filed a new COC for President, this time under the Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan (PDDS) party, replacing Grepor Belgica, who withdrew.
The two pro-Duterte candidates’ actions were part of a frenzy of withdrawals and substitutions on Saturday, which political observers called a “merry go round” as Duterte accompanied Senator Go to the Comelec premises in Intramuros, Manila.
Duterte himself is expected to return to Comelec on Monday (Nov 15), the deadline for substitutions, to file a COC for vice president or senator.
He has vowed full support for Go’s candidacy as president, even though this pits Go against former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Partido Federal presidential aspirant, whose party adopted Duterte’s daughter, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio as its VP candidate.
In his letter to partymates, released Sunday through Secretary-General Melvin Matibag, Cusi said, apparently referring to Saturday’s events, “We assure you that nothing has changed,. Our objective remains the same: VICTORY in the coming National and Local elections.”
Cusi added: “We urge you to toe the party line and remain steadfast. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte will personally lead our campaign and is committed to support all our candidates.”
As of press time, PDP-Laban has yet to announce who its new standard bearer will be in the 2022 polls.
According to Cusi, the country’s energy chief, their party “shall call a National Council meeting before the end of this year. We shall campaign hard and we will not rest until our objective is attained.”
And, despite Senator Go’s move to run under a different party (PDDS), Cusi rallied his partymates: “GO for continuity! GO for victory!”
On Saturday, Dela Rosa said he made the decision to withdraw upon the instruction of the PDP-Laban leadership.
He had earlier admitted in a TV interview that when he filed his COC for President just hours before deadline on October 8, he was told by party higher-ups to do so just on that day. This fueled speculation he was a “place holder” candidate, which he and party top brass denied.
Meanwhile, Duterte-Carpio’s legal counsel filed her new COC on Saturday, formalizing her intent to run for Vice President under the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD).
She replaced the previous vice presidential aspirant of Lakas-CMD, Lyle Uy.
Within hours, the Partido Federal of Marcos Jr. released a resolution adopting Duterte-Carpio as their party’s VP nominee, as running mate to the former senator.