Marcos says no to possible presidential term-sharing with Sara
MANILA, Philippines — Presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has rejected a supposed term-sharing between him and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Marcos told reporters that he is not open to the floated idea of splitting equally — which was done in the House leadership — the six-year presidential term with Duterte-Carpio, who has yet to announce her political plans in the 2022 polls.
“That is not a good formula for stability. The reason why the six years is because we want some stability in the policies of the government and if we change government every three years which is effectively what the term sharing scheme is you’re saying will do, then urong sulong na naman tayo,” he said, adding that the Constitution has to be amended for this.
This was after Quezon Governor Danilo Suarez, Lakas-CMD co-chairman, noted in an interview with TeleRadyo that Marcos and Duterte both rank high in surveys. “So I don’t know, whether baka mag-term share sila,” he said.
Should this agreement between Duterte-Carpio and Marcos be forged one of them would have to run as president, while the other would run as vice president. Once in power, whoever is elected president would have to give way three years into their presidency by resigning from their post to allow the vice president to take their place.
But Marcos said he is not amenable to sharing the presidential term, even if it is with Duterte-Carpio, pointing out that whoever who will he supposedly split the term with is still a different administration.
“So if there’s going to be a such a term sharing agreement, then certainly whoever will be sitting will have to form their own government and that brings us back to three-year term and three-year terms… in principle is something that I do not think is going to be advantageous to the government, to the people,” he added.
Marcos is currently courting the vote-rich Batangas province, which saw at least two other presidential candidates—Vice President Leni Robredo and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno—hold activities in the area recently.
House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, president of Lakas-CMD, also rejected the possibility. “In my opinion, I don’t think that is necessary to even consider a termshare,” he said.
No backing down
With just a few days before the window for substitution closes, Marcos has yet to announce his running-mate. On Friday, he admitted to being open to running without a vice-presidential candidate.
But for his bid for the Malacañang, Marcos said: “I am running for president, full stop.”
Does this mean that Duterte-Carpio will be running as vice president and he will not be sliding down for his 2022 polls bid?
Marcos replied: “Well, there is not ‘definitely’ here. Isn’t that we have a saying that there is no forever. I am running for president, I do not know what other people are doing, you have to ask them. I cannot answer for other people, what their plans are, what [Partido-Demokratiko Pilipino] will do, I can only answer for myself and my answer is I am running for president.” — with reports from News5/Dale De Vera, Philstar.com/Xave Gregorio
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