Daughterte-Duterte tandem in 2028?

It wasn’t the first time that the idea was floated.

Yet, because of recent political developments, the revival of a possible Duterte-Duterte tandem for the nation’s two highest positions has created a stir.

As in the 2022 election period when the idea was first broached, it was Salvador Panelo who floated the possible pairing. The former chief presidential legal counsel of Rodrigo Duterte used the idea to work the crowd last Tuesday at the culmination of the week-long protest rallies staged in Manila’s Liwasang Bonifacio by supporters of embattled pastor Apollo Quiboloy, who are also Duterte diehards.

The rally on the final day was attended by the former president and his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte.

VP Sara has been designated as government caretaker while President Marcos is on his latest foreign jaunt (no pasyal, he insisted). Although the VP attended the rally, she said those with grievances against the administration should forward their complaints to the Office of the President.

The VP has been on a tightrope in the past months, keeping her Cabinet portfolio – with all the power and perks that go with it – while at the same time battling her main nemesis, the President’s favorite cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez.

At the rally, she reiterated the conspiracy angle that she raised in a recent video message wherein she lamented that there was an “organized demolition job” against her, presenting as proof a mishmash of recent events with negative impact on her and her family.

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When the Daughterte-Duterte pairing was first floated during the 2022 campaign, both Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter’s camp said it wasn’t going to happen.

In an interview at the time with Quiboloy’s Sonshine Media Network International, Digong Duterte said he was not interested in seeking the vice presidency and he wanted to retire.

He initially said his daughter had agreed to be the running mate of his loyal aide, Sen. Bong Go. Alas for Digong, his headstrong daughter has no love lost for the senator, and instead wanted to team up with Ferdinand Marcos Jr. – a guy Digong had dismissed as a weakling and a cokehead.

Worse, instead of insisting on being the standard bearer – considering that she was rating higher in the surveys than Marcos Junior – Inday Sara agreed to slide down to the vice presidency, in an arrangement that was reportedly brokered by BBM’s elder sister Imee Marcos and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

It turned out to be a clever political strategy, especially in the light of the catastrophic failure of anti-administration forces to unite behind a common tandem.

With the solid North and a large base in Mindanao and the Visayas behind them, the UniTeam pair won by the largest margin ever.

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These days, however, the Duterte father and daughter (plus the two sons, who have lost massive funding for their home turf) are under siege, and could end up facing the International Criminal Court.

Their staunch supporter Apollo Quiboloy is equally embattled.

Floating the idea of Digong Duterte seeking high office again (and winning handily, if those surveys on 2025 “senatoriables” are accurate) ensures that he remains a political force to reckon with. It guarantees that he won’t be a political lame duck anytime soon, with a powerful arsenal for deployment against his enemies.

Bongbong Marcos once said, in an interview with foreign media that he handled much better than his disastrous chat with Australian TV, that he entered politics for his family’s survival.

Will Rodrigo Duterte re-enter politics, and perhaps even team up with his daughter, for a similar reason?

And the more important question: is the Daughterte-Duterte tandem winnable?

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Surveys have shown that the two Dutertes remain enormously popular. Way more popular, definitely, than Speaker Romualdez.

On the other hand, the ideal political pairings for national office are those with sufficient regional representation, such as the Marcoses’ “solid North” together with the Dutertes’ support base in Mindanao and the Visayas.

A Daughterte-Duterte tandem makes Davao over-represented. The clan’s hold on power in the region is also currently facing a spirited challenge from the Nograles clan.

Also, fielding father and daughter for the two highest offices in the land brings dynasty building to a new low. It smacks of sheer greed for power – not that it would matter to the Duterte diehards, who can point out that there’s no legal prohibition against such a tandem.

Whoever is endorsed by Bongbong Marcos as his successor will enjoy the immense resources of the administration in the campaign. As we have seen in previous races, however, this is no guarantee of victory, especially if the “anointed” successor is the leader of the House. We saw this in the case of Jose de Venecia, who was endorsed by Fidel Ramos but was trounced by action star Joseph Estrada in 1998.

Two other House speakers also lost in their presidential bids, although both were not anointed by the incumbent chief executives: Ramon Mitra Jr. in 1992 and Manny Villar in 2010.

Romualdez has said only that he prefers to focus on the many urgent problems the country currently faces, and 2028 is still too far away. But he has also not denied outright plans to seek the presidency.

If pushed into a corner, will the Daughterte-Duterte tandem finally materialize?

The bigger concern, for those who keep track of surveys, is that the tandem might win.