DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said on Sunday, November 14, 2021, that she accepted the offer to run for the vice presidency to heed the calls of her supporters.
Duterte-Carpio made the statement a day after she filed her certificate of candidacy (COC) for vice president under Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) on Saturday, November 13.
The mayor said she was already firm on her decision not to run for the presidency, but many of her supporters continued to push her to be the country's next leader even after the October 8 deadline of the COC filing.
"I have thousands of supporters who cried last October 8, and I cannot find it in my heart to make them cry again on November 15," Duterte-Carpio said in a recorded video message posted on her official Facebook page.
November 15 is the last day for aspirants to apply as substitute candidates for the 2022 elections.
She said the bid to run for vice president was offered a day after the deadline for the filing of COC.
"After the deadline, the offer to run for vice president to meet you halfway. It's a path that would allow me to heed your call to serve our country, and make me a stronger person and public servant in the years that lie ahead," the mayor said.
Meanwhile, she appealed to her supporters to "stay calm."
She said the current problems of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) are their own.
"Let them resolve their issues within their party," she said.
The mayor referred to the recent withdrawal of Senator Christopher "Bong" Go for vice president and decided to run for president in next year's poll. While the mayor's father, President Rodrigo Duterte, is reportedly going to file his COC for vice president, making him a possible contender under the same position.
"This is all politics and this will not matter in the years to come, or even now," she said.
"We need to focus on this country's recovery and the people's welfare," she added.