MANILA, Philippines (Updated 2:13 p.m.) — After initially telling the public she had no plans to run for national office, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has officially thrown her hat into the ring for the vice-presidency in 2022.
The daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte replaced Lyle Uy as Lakas-CMD's candidate for vice president by filing her candidacy for the position through former Presidential Commission on Good Government chairperson Reynold Munsayac.
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The party of presidential aspirant Sen. Bongbong Marcos, Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, has adopted her as their vice presidential candidate.
Lakas-CMD president and House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez has said that Duterte-Carpio and Marcos have been in talks to team up for the 2022 elections.
Duterte-Carpio initially filed her COC for reelection as Davao City mayor but eventually withdrew her candidacy on November 9, fuelling speculation that she will run for a national post.
READ: Sara Duterte seeks reelection as Davao City mayor
The move mirrors her father's surprise run for the Palace, as President Duterte also initially rejected the idea of a bid for Malacañang.
Despite calls from supporters, Duterte-Carpio said in August that she would not be running as her father declared that he would run for the vice presidency. She added that the two agreed that only one Duterte should run for a national post.
On October 2, though, the chief executive made the surprise announcement that he would be retiring from politics and returning to private life in 2022. Later that month, she reportedly met with Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa, standard-bearer of the ruling PDP-Laban party.
Duterte-Carpio consistently topped Pulse Asia's pre-elections surveys — 20% of respondents in a poll conducted in September said they would vote for her — even after she declared that she had no interest in running.
In a statement issued through Liloan, Cebu Mayor Christina Garcia Frasco, Sara's spokesperson, the Davao City chief executive said that she "continues to listen to the pulse of the Filipino people" amid the calls for her to run in early October.
The move mirrors that of her father, who also joined the race to Malacañang at the last minute after claiming he had no intention of doing so.