President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter Sara Duterte filed on Saturday, October 2, her certificate of candidacy for reelection as mayor of Davao City.

The presidential daughter is seeking her third and last consecutive term as Davao mayor.

Sara is the top choice in the 2022 presidential race, according to a September Pulse Asia survey. But Sara had insisted that she would seek reelection as mayor.

“I can confirm that Mayor Sara Duterte has filed her certificate of candidacy for mayor of Davao City,” said Liloan, Cebu Mayor Christina Garcia Frasco, Sara’s spokesperson.

According to Davao media, Sara filed her candidacy at the local Comission on Elections (Comelec) office past 4 in the afternoon, or just a few minutes after her father announced he was retiring from politics.

The Dutertes dominate politics in Davao City and beyond. Sara is the sitting mayor while her younger brother, Sebastian, is vice mayor. Paolo Duterte, her brother, represents the 1st District of Davao in Congress.

While Sara’s filing of candidacy for reelection would normally silence calls for and speculation over a national run, it should be remembered that just six years ago, President Duterte first filed for mayor before eventually filing his candidacy for president.

The older Duterte in 2015 filed for reelection as Davao City mayor but months later withdrew this and filed his candidacy for president instead. Sara took her father’s candidacy as Davao City mayor after his withdrawal.

President Duterte was supposed to be the PDP-Laban Cusi faction’s bet for vice president and Go the standard-bearer. With Go’s filing as vice president, the group has yet to say who they will field as president in 2022. – Rappler.com