It’s Marcos’ turn to court Duterte

By: Allan Nawal  | 03:29 AM October 2nd, 2015

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—After former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, it was Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s turn to dine out with Mayor Rodrigo Duterte here on Wednesday.

Duterte, who says he is reviewing his decision not to run for President next year, told reporters that he and Marcos, who has said he will run for higher office, “talked about politics and the chances of every candidate on the political horizon.”

Marcos, son of the late President Ferdinand Marcos who ruled the Philippines under martial law for nearly 20 years, is believed to be aiming for the vice presidency and is looking for a presidential running mate.

Duterte had said he planned to retire from politics after the end of his mayoral term next year, but he surprised reporters on Wednesday when he answered a question about his plans.

“Me? The deadline [for the filing of certificates of candidacy is] Oct. 16 yet. I might run for … [maybe] mayor again. I might run for senator. I might run for … you say it for me,” Duterte said.

“Now you ask Bongbong if he is my Vice,” he added.

Marcos said that when he asked Duterte about his plan for 2016, the mayor replied that he was not running.

“He is not running, but he is good,” Marcos said after his dinner with Duterte at a hotel here.

“It was not a real meeting, we just talked and discussed the situation.  Obviously, we talked about politics,”he said.

Marcos said he and Duterte did not discuss the possibility of running together.

But he admitted that he and Duterte once discussed it.

“We discussed [it] a long time ago, not today,” he said.

Marcos said he asked Duterte for advice on whether he should seek the vice presidency.

“The general discussion was what it should be. I came here to seek the mayor’s advice and what I can do, because the filing [of certificates of candidacy] is near so I have to make [a decision],” Marcos said.

“I also sought his political advice many years ago, so this is [just] a continuation,” he added.

“I just need to talk to somebody whose advice is genuine. [We talked about many things]. What to do and all of them, we talked about what is happening, who will run and what I can possibly do,” Marcos said.

As for his own plans, he said he would announce them at the “proper time.”

Duterte said he promised Marcos that he would regularly get in touch with the senator.

“We are nearing … about to cross the Rubicon,” he said, suggesting that he and Marcos had something to decide.

Then he teased reporters, saying, “Watch until after Oct. 16.”

“I’m sure everything will become clear [by then]. But it’s not my personal ambition,” Duterte said.

And if he is running, Duterte will file his certificate of candidacy here, he said.

“My star will stop shining someday. The Duterte thing will someday vanish from politics,” he said.

Recent dinner guests

Marcos’ visit came after Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano announced here on Tuesday that he was running for Vice President.

Cayetano, who, like Marcos, is a member of the Nacionalista Party, came here with his sister Sen. Pia Cayetano and his wife, Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano, and had dinner with Duterte.

Believed to be shopping for a presidential running mate, Cayetano told reporters that he and his sister encouraged Duterte to run for President.

Duterte, a member of the PDP-Laban, told reporters that he and Cayetano talked about teams, but not about his and Cayetano’s team because he was not a candidate.

But Duterte said that if he changed his mind and decided to run for President, he would pick Cayetano as his running mate.

On June 26, long before President Aquino endorsed his presidential candidacy, then Interior Secretary Mar Roxas also came to Davao and had dinner with Duterte.

That was actually their second meeting in June, having seen each other two weeks earlier.

“Nothing to it,” Roxas told reporters when asked about his June 26 meeting with Duterte. “[Just] two longtime friends seeing each other.”

Roxas, standard-bearer of the ruling Liberal Party, was believed to be looking for a running mate but he declined to say whether he and Duterte discussed politics.–With a report from Inquirer Research

Source: www.newsinfo.inquirer.net