Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar said that seven to eight Cabinet members of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration might resign from their posts to run in the 2019 midterm elections.
This was revealed by Andanar in an interview on GMA’s Unang Balita on Thursday, October 4.
“Palagay ko posibleng mga pito hanggang walo ang magbibitiw. Kasi meron pang ibang tatakbo sa kanilang mga localities, sa kanilang mga probinsya at meron din naman ibang tatakbong congressman din (I think it is possible that there are seven to eight Cabinet members who will resign. Because some of them will run in their localities, in their provinces, while some of them will run for a congressman),” Andanar said.
The PCOO chief refused to name the Cabinet members, but he was asked during the interview if Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Jr. is among those who are planning to resign to seek posts in the upcoming polls.
In response to this, Andanar said, “Sa ngayon, si Secretary Roque ay tatakbong senador (For now, Secretary Roque will run for senator).”
“Pero tignan natin kasi meron din namang kasamahan natin na kinakausap si Secretary Roque na ‘wag na lang tumakbo dahil kailangan siya sa Communications (But let’s see because some of our colleagues have talked to Secretary Roque encouraging him not to run because he is needed in the Communications department),” he added.
As of writing, Roque, a former Kabayan party-list representative, is still undecided whether or not he will join the Senate race since, he said, he needs to discuss the matter first to Duterte.
“I need to talk to him, he’s my appointing authority. However I decide, I need to talk to the President,” he said in a press briefing on Tuesday.
The spokesman added that based on his last count, there will be around six Cabinet members who might file their certificate of candidacies (COCs) for both national and local posts. He added that among those six, three of them are eyeing the national elections, while the other three might join local elections.
Like Andanar, Roque also did not name those members of Duterte’s Cabinet.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) set the filing of candidacy for next year’s midterm elections from October 11 to 17. The original schedule of COC filing was supposed to be from October 1 to 5.