Father, daughter team taking shape in Davao City polls Mindanao Bureau
December 31, 2006
DAVAO CITY--Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he wants his daughter Sara as running mate in next year's mayoral elections.
During the Christmas party of the city's village chiefs held at the Grand Menseng Hotel here on Dec. 26, Duterte said Sara would make a good vice mayor.
But he admitted that he was not sure about the public's response to a father and daughter tandem.
Duterte had earlier said he will not allow any member of his family to be involved in "the messy and difficult world of politics."
But he said he changed his mind because he realized that his efforts for the city could go to waste if corrupt politicians would take over city hall.
Duterte said his father--who governed the then undivided Davao province--has left him a leadership that he "could not just bequeath to anybody else, especially to some politicians who have tainted the image of the city."
"I have been running this city alone for the past many years and whether I like it or not, I will retire. My father has left me a leadership and this I performed with the utmost desire to bring the people of Davao only the best," Duterte said.
He said passing that leadership should be made with utmost concern.
"I have to be very careful. I am wary that my efforts for Davao would go to waste but if my daughter will become the next vice mayor, I can always be her guide," Duterte said.
Duterte said he detests the idea of working with politicians involved in corruption scandals.
He named former mayor Benjamin de Guzman--a former ally--as among politicians he would never work with again. De Guzman has announced his intention to run in the vice mayoralty race.
"There will certainly be chaos in our governance should he [De Guzman] become the next vice mayor. I would rather resign as mayor and surrender my post to him. He has done practically nothing to Davao when he was the mayor... look at Artica? It is a huge questionable project under his leadership," Duterte said referring to the mothballed multi-million sports center built under De Guzman's administration.
Sara, a lawyer, has refused to comment on his father's announcement.
But Duterte appears to be serious in tapping his daughter as running mate as he has commissioned a survey on Sara's acceptability to the public.
Councilor Peter Laviña, who conducted a separate quick survey on Dec. 27, said 35 percent of the 175 respondents asked wanted Sara to be the next vice mayor.
"The issue of readiness here is debatable and relative but given that her family is an old political clan and that she has been exposed to politics all her life, Sara has an advantage over the other hopefuls aside from the fact that she is also a lawyer," Laviña said.
