MANILA, Philippines — Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats president and House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said Tuesday he is eyeing to include President Rodrigo Duterte in his party’s senatorial lineup for the 2022 elections.
“It will be my honor, as Lakas-CMD president, to nominate his name for inclusion in the list of senatorial candidates to be adopted by the party,” Romualdez said in a statement.
The House leader said Lakas-CMD’s National Executive Committee is currently finalizing the party’s Senate slate for next year’s polls and will make a formal announcement on this soon.
Duterte is running for senator in the 2022 elections under Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan, a party in alliance with the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan. His daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, is running for vice president under Lakas-CMD.
PDP-Laban originally wanted him to run for vice president, but he scrapped this to announce that he was supposedly retiring from politics.
Duterte, however, yet again departed from his previous statement and opted to file his candidacy for senator by substituting for a PDDS candidate who backed out from the senatorial race.
In 2015, Duterte also announced that he was retiring from politics, only for him to file his candidacy for president by substituting for his partymate Martin Diño. — Xave Gregorio