Category Archives: DUTERTE FOR PRESIDENT
IF DISQALIFIED AS PDP-LABAN SUBSTITUTE BET, DUTERTE CAN RUN AS KBL STANDARD BEARER
BY ROGER M. BALANZA
Rodrigo Duterte can still run for President in 2016 even if he is barred by the Commission on Election (Comelec) from running as a substitute candidate of Martin Diño of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino/Laban (PDP-Laban).
The Davao City mayor can run for President under the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), said a stalwart of the party, lawyer Oliver Lozano.
Lozano said KBL was willing to field Duterte as its standard bearer to skirt a possible disqualification, as the Comelec on Friday, December 18, heard a petition filed by Roman Castor seeking to disqualify Duterte from the presidential election.
Ironically, Lozano is the legal counsel of Castor in the petition.
In his petition, Castor said Duterte cannot run as substitute candidate for Diño who he said filed an invalid Certificate of Candidacy (COC). In his COC, Diño stated that he was running for mayor of Pasay City and not for president.
But Lozano said Castor merely wanted to nullify the COC for President of Dino and is not against Duterte’s presidential bid.
KBL, he also said, will support Duterte if his presidential run is cleared by Comelec.
Lozano stressed that Duterte cannot run as substitute candidate for Diño because the latter’s COC was invalid.
But there is a remedy for Duterte to pursue his bid to be the next President, said the KBL stalwart.
Outside of the court hearing, Lozano said Duterte could substitute for Augusto Syjuco, the KBL presidential candidate who was earlier declared by Comelec as a “nuisance candidate.”
As a substitute candidate for Syjuco there will no legal question on Duterte’s presidential bid, said Lozano.
Lozano said that his party KBL could merge with Duterte’s PDP/Laban and field the Davao City mayor as standard bearer.
Duterte, now leading in surveys for presidential preference, is running in a five-way race with Vice President Jejomar Binay of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance, Mar Roxas of the administration Liberal Party, independent Senator Grace Poe and Senator Miriam Santiago of the People’s Reform Party.
The substitution issue is remains as a major stumbling block to the presidential bid of Duterte who earlier had been listed by Comelec as an official candidate.
Unlike Poe who is raising to the Supreme Court her disqualification by Comelec for lack of residency and citizenship qualification, Duterte had said he would accept whatever decision of the Comelec on the substitution issue.
At a party he tendered for Davao journalists on Friday night, December 19, Duterte said he would support Binay if he is disqualified.
Duterte of late had locked in a week-long “word war” with Roxas, after the Liberal Party candidate said that the peace and order is a myth.
After Dutrterte’s threat to slap Roxas who retaliated by challenging Duterte to a fistfight and Duterte luring Roxas to a gun duel, the verbal scrimmage had come to close with Duterte smoking the peace pipe with the statement that slapping and boxing bouts could inflict heavy damage on Roxas. He is dropping the gun duel saying that Roxas could not handle a gun.
DROP IN AQUINO RATING TO FURTHER PULL DOWN ROXAS
Roxas ‘breaks away’ from Aquino
The dip in the performance rating of President Benigno Aquino was expected to further pull down the pre-poll survey rating of Mar Roxas, standard bearer of Aquino’s Liberal Party.
In its survey conducted on December 5-8, the Social Weather Station (SWS) had the net performance rating of the Aquino administration drop to its lowest this year.
Just as Aquino’s endorsement of the presidential bid of his former interior secretary failed to boost Roxas’ rating in the surveys, the President’s decreased performance rating would also further consign Roxas to the bottom of the survey.
The latest SWS survey on presidential preference was topped by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP) with 38 percent. Vice President Jojomar Binay of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) shared the second spot with independent bet Senator Grace Poe with 21; Roxas got 15%.
In previous surveys of the SWS and Pulse Asia, Roxas was a perennial fourth placer.
Observers say Eoxas’ poor showing is in part due to his failure to develop his own presidential image away from Aquino and for picking up the much-maligned “Daang Matuwid” program of the outgoing Aquino administration.
The survey results indicate that President Aquino’s endorsement of Roxas as his successor has not helped the former interior secretary’s prospects in catching up in the ratings race, according to columnist Amando Doronila.
COMELEC VOTES 6-1 ON DUTERTE SUBSTITUTION; DIGONG NOW A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT
The Commission on Elections en banc decided on Thursday to accept the substitution of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as presidential candidate for PDP-Laban in the 2016 polls.
At a press conference, Comelec chair Andres Bautista said the en banc voted 6-1 to accept Duterte as substitute for Martin Diño, who filed a certificate of candidacy under PDP-Laban then withdrew it, citing the mayor as replacement.
“This means he is now in our list of candidates. It is an administrative move on part of Comelec en banc,” Bautista said. READ MORE
DUTERTE VS ROXAS: FROM SLAPPING TO FISTFIGHT TO GUN DUEL
DUTERTE TO SUPPORT BINAY IF HE IS DISQUALIFIED BY COMELEC
The word war between Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and former Interior secretary Mar Roxas could lead to a windfall for Vice President Jejomar Binay in the 2016 race to the Presidency.
Duterte said that he will support Binay if he is disqualified to run by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“If I am disqualified I will campaign for Binay,” Duterte told Davao City-based journalists on Tuesday, December 15, as he continued to fire verbal missiles at Roxas, standard bearer of the ruling Liberal Party of President Benigno Aquino.
Last week, Roxas sparked the word war with Duterte by saying that claims about Davao City being the safest city in the country was a myth.
Reacting, Duterte threatened to spank Roxas if they crossed paths and disputed his claim as a graduate of Wharton School of Economics.
Duterte also said Roxas is a weakling and could not stand stress based on his performance as Interior secretary during rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts for victims of super typhoon Yolanda.
ALL FOR SHOW? A photo of then Interior Secretary Mar Roxas’ supposed motorcycle crash that first appeared on the Twitter page of Rappler showing Roxas fall over the an XRM Honda motorcycle wearing denim pants with yellow raincoat without a helmet.