“IF I fail to make good on my promises, I hope in little ways, Inday Sara might... in the future.”-
-President Duterte to a Filipino audience in Jordan
The country has had three former mayors who became president: Emilio Aguinaldo, of Kawit; Joseph Estrada, of San Juan; and Rodrigo Duterte, of Davao.
Like her father, Sara Duterte-Carpio is mayor of Davao City. She could be the fourth mayor to rise from a “municipio” or City Hall to Malacañang.
President Duterte last Sept. 7 told a gathering of Filipinos in Jordan he hoped Sara would fulfill the promises he would fail to keep at the end of his term or stay in office.
The Constitution does not require executive experience for the president. Three presidents had none: the two Aquinos, Corazon “Cory” and her son Benigno III “Noynoy,” and, yes, Ferdinand Marcos Sr. whose training had been as legislator.
Not a plus
Just being mayor, or even governor, is not exactly a plus. A local official’s experience with the people boosts his empathy for the common citizen but, on getting the national vote, he is disadvantaged as against a rival whose public service makes him a household name across the country. It’s huge help to a local executive aspiring to become president that he’s exposed on the national stage, as Cabinet secretary or senator or as controversial figure who has caught the nation’s imagination.
Thanks to her dad’s occasional plugging and her own capacity to come flying after being snared in controversies, Sara is also widely known outside Mindanao. Tangling with her city’s sheriff to help “demolished” squatters, feuding with then House speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, organizing the regional/national party Hugpong ng Pagbabago displayed her acumen in getting noticed nationwide. That, on top of being the president’s daughter. The last Pulse Asia poll on “senatoriables,” conducted June 15-21, ranked her #4 (#3-5, 46.2%) in the Top 12 probable candidates for senator.
Via the Senate
She could be senator in the 2019 elections and from the Senate mount the quest for the presidency. Her protests about not running for a higher position and staying in Davao may look hollow and contrived, given the father’s own repeated vows not to bid for the presidency in 2016.
With Duterte’s expression of a hope, apparently fathered by a plan, the obvious path Sara might take would take her to the Senate. Her party that morphed from regional to national would be helpful for that and the eventual route to Malacañang.
Dynasticism? Not a legal bar and not vote-deterrent, at least in the next two elections or so. Surely not self-inhibitory: which politician, the Dutertes included, have seen dynasticism as impediment and disqualifier to, ah, public service?
Not ‘just a housewife’
The president still skirts the fringes, not talking directly and specifically about Sara seeking national office, such as the seat he now occupies.
In 2017, a news story reported that Duterte wanted his daughter to be his successor. In the same year, on Sept. 27, Duterte’s chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo pushed her as the next president. She and her dad, Panelo crowed, “have the same characteristics, she’s even better.” The lawyer offered the “housewife” argument: “if Cory who was just a housewife became president, why not Inday Sara who’s a lawyer and a mayor?”
Sara didn’t play coy to being tossed as possible successor. She noted instead that her dad didn’t mention “president.”
Pragmatism
Also last year, then presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella explained it as “pragmatism.” Duterte, he said, understandably would want to protect the gains he had made since he assumed as president.
Sara, described by the president as “the alpha” in their family and in Davao, got the usual political campaigner’s pitch from her dad: “mabait yan, you can approach her,” “marunong.”
‘Strong woman’
How about the likes of Bongbong Marcos and Chiz Escudero and even “a military junta” that Duterte earlier listed as possible successor?
The enumeration has given us the kind of leader whom he’d like to see occupy his seat after he steps down. He can legitimately wish and even campaign for his choice.
Ultimately, the voters decide in their ballot, however Duterte may try to influence their verdict. Assuming he would not declare a military or revolutionary government and install the successor who could continue his programs—and protect him against those who might want to see him locked up.