‘Still no Duterte endorsement for president’

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte will not endorse any presidential candidate unless there is a “compelling reason” for him to do so, acting presidential spokesman Martin Andanar said yesterday.

Andanar made the statement days after Duterte said voters could pick any Ilocano they want to install in Malacañang.

During the inauguration of a farmer’s market in Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, a known bailiwick of presidential aspirant Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Duterte told his audience that they may choose which Ilocano leader they want to put in the Palace. He did not mention any presidential candidate.

Duterte made the remark after noting that a majority of his Cabinet men are Ilocanos.

“The President has repeatedly said that he does not support any presidential candidate unless there is a compelling reason. And if you recall the interview we had with the President, he clearly said – he may or he may not. So let us wait for the decision of our President,” Andanar said during a press briefing on Tuesday.

“Whatever the President said in Ilocos, you know the President, he likes to play with words and he loves to horse around,” he added.

Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, is running for vice president under the UniTeam alliance headed by Marcos, a former senator who is the son and namesake of the late dictator.

Duterte earlier said he was not impressed by the younger Marcos, whom he described as a “weak leader.”

Last Saturday, Duterte’s political party, the PDP-Laban faction led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, proclaimed its national candidates without a presidential aspirant.

The party said it would only endorse a presidential candidate who would adopt its “11-point agenda for continuity,” which includes sustaining the Duterte administration’s campaigns against drugs, crimes and insurgency.