WE have no doubt that Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte-Carpio is a totally packaged individual. She is not only physically gifted. She is also bright, intelligent and wise. But her attribute of having the best of wisdom will be put to a test when she eventually makes a decision on her political plan come October, 2021.
Let us not forget that the lady mayor is now approaching her crossroad where she will have to make a choice which way she would go as far as her political path is concerned. Her friends in her immediate circle are egging her to run for President in order to pursue whatever projects undertaken by her father President Rodrigo Duterte will not be accomplished by the end of his term.
The persistence of her close advisers to prod the mayor to run is primarily due to the very positive survey results on her chances of getting voted to power if the election for President is held as of the time the survey was conducted. The very positive result has been very consistent starting from the time that the surveys were conducted by the country’s top research institutions, primarily the Social Weather Station and Pulse Asia, Inc. The Davao City mayor though is trying to be consistent with her pronouncements that she is not interested to run come May 2022 polls. But of late, however, there are indications that she seemed to have loosen a little her refusal to cast her lot on the Presidency.
We could only assume two possibilities here. That is, that the result of the surveys working in her favor is eating up whatever resistance left of her from the enticement, or that she may have realized that this early an opposition Presidency is already manifesting indications that it is up to the neck in its desire to persecute the incumbent President once he is out of the office. In other words, for Sara to think of the Presidency is one way of setting up a defensive position for whatever evil intention an opposition administration plans to do.
However, it is our take that the City Mayor, taking all the cues from her possible Solomonic wisdom, may not necessarily be aiming for the highest position of the land. After all she cannot afford to reduce her chances of winning by doing things that may be strongly against the advocacy of her father President that made him win the 2016 Presidential elections – dismantling of political dynasty. Should she had her intention to betray that advocacy surfaced by getting enticed to run for the Presidency right after the term of her father, then she and her father can be the target of mockery by those against the present administration. And they might succeed in instilling in the Filipino’s minds their version of the Duterte Presidency.
It is our take then that Mayor Sara, with all her wisdom and intelligence, will eventually decide to postpone her run for the Presidency to the 2028 national elections. That 6-year gap is too short a period to wait even as there is plenty of trust for her to gain. But we believe she would settle for the Vice Presidency to someone the administration decides to endorse.
After all, if we have to believe in the result of the survey Sara still leads by a far margin her closest potential rival for the second-highest position of the land. So, if she runs for VP and wins, with an administration President, she may be able to extend her and her father’s influence on Malacanang affairs. If by the twist of fate an Opposition sits in the Palace, she can act as an active critic of government being the highest Opposition official by then. Therefore, knowing Sara as an astute politician and fearless like her father at that, whoever sits in Malacanang would have to be extra careful in his or her moves. Hence, whichever will be the scenario after the May 2022 polls and whether a Sara win will have an Opposition President or an endorsee by the current administration, her father who by that time will be back to civilian life will have an impenetrable defense perimeter.
Meanwhile, Sara can continue building herself up for the 2028 national elections without being disturbed by the thought that he may have put a dent in whatever legacy her father left during his term. That would make her journey to the Presidency even more smooth-sailing.
