'Not soliciting': Gutoc takes Moreno's lead, says would be 'grateful' for Duterte endorsement
MANILA, Philippines — Though not explicitly asking to be chosen, senatorial candidate Samira Gutoc, formerly of Otso Diretso fame, has taken the lead of Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno in saying that she would welcome an endorsement by President Rodrigo Duterte.
"I was known as a critic, but President Rodrigo Duterte is a voter, which, he's a voter, right? And me as a human being, as a candidate of Marawi, would need the vote of everyone," she said in an interview aired over ANC's Headstart Monday morning.
"Isko needs also President Duterte. If he asks for his endorsement, that's his level of need. And for me, I'm very grateful if that's the case, but I'm not actively asking for it. I'm doing my campaign," she also said Monday.
Does this mean she would accept and even want an endorsement from the chief executive? "I did not solicit [an endorsement,] but I am very grateful for it if ever."
Gutoc is running under the Aksyon Demokratiko slate of Isko Moreno, who has been aggressively courting the endorsement of the president. He has gone as far as saying he would also "be honored" to welcome Duterte in his Senate slate.
She also once ran under the Liberal Party-backed Otso Diretso slate in 2016 but failed to secure a seat in the Senate after placing just 25th.
Gutoc distances from running mate's 'LP ouster' conspiracy
Asked if she also believed Moreno's claim that the Liberal Party attempted to oust President Duterte, Gutoc sidestepped and instead made multiple references to the "bashing" she was getting from former supporters and pro-administration voters alike.
"You know, in 2019, we felt as the Liberal Party that we were lambasted to the max [by] all these troll farms and factors from outside," she said.
Despite her history with the party, Gutoc did little to oppose or correct Moreno when he first made the accusation. The Manila City Mayor pointed fingers in an interview with Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar aired over state-run media.
In the interview attempting to court the president's loyal followers, Moreno claimed that the Liberal Party, which is chaired by fellow presidential aspirant Leni Robredo, "did nothing but fight the President and attempt to oust him so you could get his position."
"In fact, it’s not just political attacks that happened. It could also be through an armed process sometimes, that’s why we have coup d’etat," he even said, reiterating an unproven claim by Duterte himself that the "yellows and reds" were out to unseat him.
Pressed for a more categorical answer, a clearly flustered Gutoc attempted to distance further from the claim and said: "Well, you know, in the heat of the moment, that wasn't processed with us...in this heat of interviews, questions are asked so directly."
"Having been in that specific [circle] with Vice President Leni [Robredo,] I couldn't really determine. She wasn't really like, overtly... I wasn't part of any core meetings with them to that effect when I was with them," she said.
Does that mean she took Moreno's claim as truth to a certain degree? "That's his sentiment. Let me just leave it at that... I wasn't consulted on such a sentiment, but we will have that moment to talk."
After earlier tensions, Gutoc welcomes Mocha Uson with open arms
Gutoc, a former lawmaker in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, was a staunch critic of the Duterte administration's policies before her move to the centrist Aksyon Demokratiko alongside its standard-bearer.
Moreno's camp has also been courting the supporters of the president as of late. Over the weekend, he secured the support of pro-Duterte influencer Mocha Uson, whom Gutoc even praised for supposedly standing up for the youth and women, and for protecting mothers.
This came despite Gutoc and Uson earlier slamming Uson on social media for the latter's red-tagging and mass gatherings over the coronavirus pandemic. In the same interview Monday, Gutoc defended herself for welcoming Uson at a campaign sortie.
"When you are graced by a visitor, you also welcome with graceness. I could’ve left but we are in that moment and I respect this was the decision of the organizers...[Uson] declared that her advocacy pointed to the women. I acknowledged that. In the middle of... out of the spur of the moment, I said, 'Thank you Mocha for speaking on behalf of women and children," she said.
"It’s not like an endorsement, not like, 'Wow you’re my model.' Mutual is—yung she was also saying, 'Samira ganyan ka pala (So this is who you are Samira).' We were on that stage smiling and it was blown out of proportion."
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