Malacañang said Thursday the 2022 national election is far from President Rodrigo Duterte’s mind, but it did not rule out the possibility he might seek another government post.
This came after a non-commissioned survey revealed that Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio and the President had emerged as the top candidates for President and Vice President, respectively, for Visayas and Mindanao voters.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said he had informed the President of the Duterte-Duterte tandem for the 2022 elections and the President “smiled.”
“The President is not prohibited from running as Vice President…If you speak of possibilities, then it’s limitless. All of that is possible, Panelo told reporters.
But he added: “Election is very far from his mind. Running for any office is farfetched at this time.”
Duterte has repeatedly said he is tired of his job and advised his daughter, Sara, not to run for a higher public office.
“His [Duterte’s] focus is on his constitutional duty to serve and to protect the people. Until the end of his term he will do it with passion, with dedication and no force on earth or organizations or persons can stop or impede him from doing such tasks assigned to him by the Constitution, Panelo said.
The survey, which randomly chose 2,000 respondents in the Visayas and Mindanao, was released by the political consultancy firm PUBLiCUS Asia Inc. and processed by its data science arm, VOX Opinion Research.
Duterte-Carpio emerged on top from a list of 21 potential presidential candidates, with 35 percent of the respondents selecting her.
Senator Grace Poe-Llamanzares followed with 11 percent, Manila Mayor Francisco ‘‘Isko” Domagoso with 7.8 percent, Senator Manny Pacquiao with 5.5 percent, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano with 4.6 percent, and Senator Christopher Go with 4.5 percent.
For the vice presidential race, the older Duterte emerged as the top candidate among 21 potential candidates with 11.6 percent.
His daughter came second with 11.5 percent.
Domagoso followed with 9.85 percent, Poe with 9.05 percent, Cayetano with 8.85 percent and Pacquiao with 7.25 percent.
The independent and non-commissioned survey was conducted from Nov. 15 to 19 and had a margin of error of +/- 2.19 percent across the entire survey population, and +/- 3.1% within the Visayas and Mindanao clusters.