Liberal Party welcomes Duterte’s bid for presidency

Davao Mayor Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte (Photo from Duterte’s official website)

The Liberal Party (LP) welcomed Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s bid for candidacy, said LP’s spokesperson Rep. Miro Quimbo.

“We welcome his decision. Like we always say, the more candidates there are is always better for the electorate,” Quimbo was quoted as saying in a Manila Bulletin report.

The voting public will also have “clearer choices since uncertainty has been removed,” added Quimbo.

The LP also urged Duterte, as well as other candidates to present the programs that they wanted to implement. The party believes that the election campaign should be about tackling issues instead of the personalities behind those issues.

Roxas, LP’s frontrunner has been reported of having a feud with Duterte that caused the two presidential candidates’ fallout. Roxas allegedly circulated rumors that Duterte had cancer. Roxas has since denied this allegation. According to the same report, Roxas sent a text message to Duterte to clear his name but the mayor did not reply.

Duterte announced his candidacy on Saturday, November 21 during a birthday party in Cavite. The Senate Electoral Tribunal’s (SET) ruling on a disqualification case filed against Sen. Grace Poe that affirmed the senator’s status as a natural-born Filipino citizen has prompted the mayor to run.

Duterte believed that SET’s ruling on the case filed against Poe was “totally wrong,” Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte’s running mate in the 2016 election, told the Inquirer.

“I cannot accept an American president,” said Duterte in the same report.

It was recalled that Martin Diño of PDP-Laban withdrew his candidacy for president on October 29, this year. He urged Duterte to fill his slot and run for president. On Saturday, Duterte accepted the party’s invitation to run. He said in the same report that he will soon file his certificate of candidacy before the Commission on Elections.