MANILA - A political analyst on Wednesday believes that Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio will gun for the highest national post after withdrawing her reelection bid on Tuesday.

“My hunch is that she will take the top position because the other candidates seems to have too many baggage, too many shrubs to be cleared out. That’s only my personal hunch. I may be wrong,” said Dr. Clarita Carlos, a political science professor at the UP Diliman.

Duterte-Carpio has topped surveys for the presidency. She earlier said that she and her father, President Rodrigo Duterte, agreed that only one of them would run for a national position in next year’s polls.

“Bilang an outside observer nakikita ko talaga there are so many moving part. Mukhang talagang highly conflicted itong si Sara Duterte and weighing the minuses and the pluses, and you know the substitution period really gives her a lot of breather to really find out saan siya tatakbo,” she said.

But Carlos believes that Durterte-Carpio will not run under the PDP-Laban or the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas of former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“Nagsabi na ng maaanghang na salita si Sara against PDP-Laban. I suspect hindi yan ang magiging political vehicle niya. Because the political party is broken, anyone can adopt her and she can take her oath and she becomes a member of that political party,” Carlos said.

(Sara have said things against PDP-Laban. I suspect that won’t be her political vehicle.)

She also thinks that Duterte-Carpio will not run under the party that endorsed Marcos Jr. since both of them are aiming for the same post.

“I’m sure like kabute, ang daming political party which I cannot even track down. I’m sure meron na silang fall back diyan na merong nag file more than this x number of people who filed for the presidency where Sara can be the substitute. I’m sure they have already done their homework,” she said.

(Like mushrooms, there are so many political parties which I cannot even track down. I’m sure they have a fall back, that someone from the X number of people who filed for the presidency where Sara can be a substitute.)

As to the possibility of a tandem with Marcos, Carlos said that Durterte-Carpio can also stand on her own.

"Ang political system natin does not need a tandem voting. But as far as I know, kailangan ka member ng isang political party na accredited by Comelec to be able to substitute for whoever had filed earlier," she said.

(Our political system does not need a tandem voting.)

The Commission on Elections’ deadline for substitution is on Nov. 15.

- TeleRadyo 10 November 2021