MANILA (UPDATE) — The waiting game is over: Sara Duterte-Carpio is running for vice president in 2022.

Duterte-Carpio on Saturday substituted Lakas-CMD “placeholder” bet Lyle Uy, filing papers through her authorized representative, former Presidential Commission on Good Government acting chair Reynold Munsayac.

BREAKING: Sara Duterte files candidacy for VICE PRESIDENT following withdrawal of Lakas-CMD bet Lyle Uy. pic.twitter.com/yZCakDrYo5

— J.E. Villaruel (@jauhnetienne) November 13, 2021

Lakas CMD president and House Majority leader Rep. Martin Romualdez confirmed the development.

"It’s final. Mayor Sara Duterte is now the official candidate of the Lakas-CMD for Vice President in the 2022 national election," Romualdez said in a statement.

"We —her partymates in the Senate, House of Representatives, Provincial Governments, City Governments and Municipal Governments— are all committed to work double time to ensure Mayor Sara’s victory as the country’s next Vice President."

Her filing ended speculation on whether or not she would run for a national post, including as successor of her father President Rodrigo Duterte, after withdrawing her reelection bid as Davao City mayor.

It was a whirlwind week for the president’s daughter.

On Tuesday, she dropped her reelection bid for Davao City mayor; on Wednesday, she resigned from Hugpong ng Pagbabago, the regional party she founded in 2018; and on Thursday, she joined Lakas-CMD, the political party of powerful ally Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Despite her initial reluctance and eventual refusal to join the presidential race, speculation never stopped that Duterte-Carpio would pull off the same political stunt her father did in 2015: belatedly run via substitution.

• Analyst: ‘Reluctant candidate’ part of PH political culture, often used as ‘gimmick’

Presidential aspirant Sen. Manny Pacquiao, meanwhile, welcomed Duterte-Carpio’s decision to file her candidacy for Vice-President.

Talking to media at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cebu City before attending the wedding of the son of Cebu City Congressman Rodrigo Abellanosa, Pacquiao said Duterte-Carpio can run for any elective position because, in the end, it will be the electorate who will make the final choice.

“Lahat may karapatan na tumakbo. Lahat binibigyan ng karapatan para magpapili. At the end of the day ang tao naman ang pipili kung sino ang ilalagay nila dyan,” Pacquiao said.

(Everyone has the right to run. At the end of the day it is the people who will choose who to elect.)

Confidante Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, in a recent interview, said Duterte-Carpio had already made up her mind to run for president as early as May.