President Duterte stated that he still does not have a preferred candidate and is delaying his endorsement of a presidential contender to avoid having his bet lose the race.
“I may or I may not [endorse a candidate], but preferably I’d like to stay neutral,” Duterte said.
“That means I will not support a candidate unless—again having said it, I’ll say it again—there will be a compelling reason for me to go out and tell the people what it is,” he said.
Duterte stated that he would prefer to take his time and was not in a hurry to back a candidate.
He remarked that if the people’s interests are at stake, he may simply choose a candidate to support.
According to the President, several candidates dispatched agents to court his support, but he declined.
“I’m not in a quandary, but I’m thinking it’s not easy to come out, and then the one you endorsed will lose,” Duterte said.
Duterte has yet to endorse any presidential candidate
Duterte said that, ideally, his bet should win.
When asked what this meant for his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, who is former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s running mate, Duterte claimed he and his daughter rarely interacted.
He claims they had only spoken once in the last few months.
“We do not talk about politics, either inside, except for once, but I do not want to discuss that because it would not be good. It was between a father and daughter. But it was also a conversation about politics, but we will keep it to ourselves, lessons learned along the way,” he said.
Duterte asked voters to replace some long-serving senators with new faces. He promoted several of his own candidates, including former presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo, former Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, anticorruption commissioner Greco Belgica, actor Robin Padilla, and former Rep. Rodante Marcoleta.
“Help your country, help me. I’m giving you the wisest choice of people out there seeking acceptance,” he said.
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