MANILA, Philippines – Presidential aspirant and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno amped up his pro-Duterte positioning on Monday, December 6, by saying he would welcome with open arms President Rodrigo Duterte into his 2022 Senate slate.

“I’m going to vote for him, personally. I’m going to endorse him, hopefully, kung papayag siya (if he’ll agree), I’ll be honored,” he said in an ambush interview in Lapu-Lapu City.

“Nakuha ko nga siyang iboto, e ‘di ko pa ba siya makuhang i-adopt (If I can vote for him, why wouldn’t I adopt him),” he added, with Lapu-Lapu Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan standing beside him. Chan is a member of Duterte’s national party, PDP-Laban.

Moreno then went on to praise Duterte, saying the Chief Executive seemed “capable” of doing Senate work and pointing out national government initiatives like the Malolos-Clark Railway project and National Vaccination Days which have benefited Manileños and Filipinos in general.

In his one stint as a legislator, Duterte proved lackluster and was noted for his absenteeism. As Davao City 1st District representative from 1998 to 2001, Duterte was present only in 58% of House sessions with roll calls and filed only 64 measures, much less than the usual 100 or more by other congressmen.

Duterte himself described his time as congressman as “boring.” He even said he would often head to the cinema right after attending the Congress flag ceremony.

Duterte as Aksyon guest candidate?

It’s not surprising for the Manila chief to be making pro-Duterte remarks in Cebu. The province overwhelmingly voted Duterte for president in the 2016 elections, giving him 1.2 million votes.

Moreno mentioned his support for Duterte after being asked about his small Senate slate, which still numbers just three aspirants – Marawi civic leader Samira Gutoc, education entrepreneur Carl Balita, and former Quezon City official and television personality Jopet Sison.

He at first said he was happy with his three-person slate but said he was certain of voting four persons. A reporter asked him who was the fourth Senate aspirant which led Moreno to say it was Duterte.

But the Manila mayor said there have been no formal talks yet with the President or his camp about joining his Senate slate.

“I would love him to be part of the Senate slate as a guest candidate, simply because he no longer has a presidential candidate. Senator Bong Go withdrew so it’s in line with our belief. But for now, let us not jump the gun, I don’t want to preempt the President,” said Moreno in Filipino.

The 47-year-old presidential aspirant said he would have no problem adopting Duterte as long as the President would not be a guest candidate for other presidential aspirants.

“We don’t believe [in the] concept of ‘guest candidate’ wherein a guest candidate would say, ‘I am the guest candidate of President A, President B, President C, President D,'” said Moreno.

Asked if there is any bad blood between him and the President following their anonymous word war back in August and September, Moreno said he has put all that behind him.

“There will be no perfect person, government, and even solutions to our challenges. But what matter most at the end of the day, things get done. After arguments, disagreement what matter most is today,” said Moreno.

Moreno consulted his party, Aksyon Demokratiko, about his welcoming Duterte in the party’s slate, party chairman Ernest Ramel told Rappler.

“We stand by with the pronouncement of our party president and standard-bearer,” he said.

“Aksyon is centrist and is not an opposition party and we believe that there are current administration policies worth continuing and we also see what need to be improved on or discontinued,” added Ramel.

Isko strategy

Duterte himself has not spoken in public about Go’s plan to drop out of the 2022 presidential race. He has not spoken about which presidential aspirant he will endorse if that plan pushes through. But in a closed-door meeting with governors in November 24, local politicians heard him say he would stay “neutral” and endorse only the vice-presidential candidacy of his daughter Sara.

Before Go said he would withdraw his bid, Duterte had also been publicly criticizing presidential race front-runner Ferdinand Marcos Jr. According to political analysts, these two developments could benefit Moreno.

PDP-Laban local executives who planned to support Go’s candidacy could end up supporting Moreno while Duterte supporters uncomfortable with a Marcos in Malacañang could also back the young Manila chief. To secure these votes, Moreno must now court Duterte supporters, say analysts. Moreno’s recent remarks are consistent with this strategy.

Meanwhile, Mayor Chan, a PDP-Laban member, admitted beside Moreno that Go’s impending withdrawal could leave them free to support any presidential bet. It’s now a waiting game.

“We are the candidate of the President so we are waiting for that, naghihintay lang kami. ‘Yung sinabi nga ni Mayor Isko, wala na kaming kandidato na presidente, naghihintay na lang kami,” said the Lapu-Lapu City chief. (We are just waiting. Like what Mayor Isko said, we no longer have a presidential candidate so we are waiting.)

Moreno is spending three days in vote-rich Cebu province, visiting a safari tourism spot in Carmen on Sunday, December 5, speaking with volunteers in Lapu-Lapu City and business executives in Mandaue City on Monday, then dropping by a market in Cebu City on Tuesday.

As of September 2021, Cebu is the most vote-rich province in the country with over 3.2 million voters. The province also has consistently high turnouts in the polls every election. 

It’s a mixed bag for Moreno in the Visayas hub because in the 2016 elections, Cebuanos chose Leni Robredo as vice president. But they also voted overwhelmingly for President Rodrigo Duterte, who got 1.2 million votes in this province over former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas’ 600,000 votes.

Over the past two weeks, Moreno said he would welcome an endorsement of his presidential bid from Duterte and would adopt his controversial “war on drugs.”  – Rappler.com