Who is the ‘pakipot’ politician Cayetano is taking a swipe at?
Is it Vice President Leni Robredo or Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte? Or perhaps even President Rodrigo Duterte who, for almost the entire year in 2015, said he would not run for president—until six months before the election. On rumors that he would run for VP in 2022, President Duterte said recently that he would "leave it to God.”
Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano during a press conference in Taguig today said that he is “seriously considering running for president and other positions. I am seriously praying and discerning about it.”
A former House Speaker and losing vice presidential candidate in the 2016 elections, Cayetano added, “The presidency is a serious matter and unlike any other time in the Philippines, there are so many challenges and problems. So I hope we set aside the usual gimmick of ‘pabebe’ or ‘pakipot’ politics because we really have to know the character of candidates, their vision, track record and promises. This is a serious topic.”
It should be recalled that Cayetano was the running mate of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016. He placed third in the race to Vice President Leni Robredo, and Bongbong Marcos who lost his five-year electoral protest in February this year with the Supreme Court deciding unanimously.
In the last presidential election, then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte himself kept denying rumors that he would run for president, only declaring on Nov. 21, 2015 or six months before the polls that he would run.
Next year’s election is still 11 months away.
Vice President Leni Robredo, whom the opposition is looking to run among potential candidates, tweeted that she has not reached a decision about running for governor and that she is open to a presidential bid.
Sa gitna ng maraming haka haka, uulitin ko lang ang ilang beses ko na ring sinabi: Wala pang desisyon na ako'y tatakbong gobernador. Nananatili akong bukas na maging kandidato sa pagka Pangulo.
— Leni Robredo (@lenirobredo) June 4, 2021
A second tweet said she has to consider so many things and that she would decide at the right time. “Maraming konsiderasyon ang isinasaalang alang pero siguradong mag dedesisyon ako sa tamang panahon. Sinisiguro ko sa lahat na ipapaalam ko kung may narating nang desisyon.”
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, according to Albay Rep. Joey Salceda in an interview on The Chiefs, will run for president in 2022. “Sara will run with somebody, not necessarily her father.” Duterte has not commented on the rumors of her candidacy.
It should also be recalled that in the last local election, Cayetano and his wife Lani claimed they had separate residences in Taguig so they could run for the two Congressional seats of the city.
Ms. Cayetano had reached her term limit as mayor of Taguig for three consecutive terms, from 2010 to 2019.
In his certificate of candidacy for the 2019 election, Cayetano claimed that he was a resident of Barangay Bagumbayan in the First District, while Lani Cayetano claimed that she resided in Barangay Fort Bonifacio in the Second District, which she represented from 2007 to 2010.
At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, then House Speaker Alan Cayetano led members of the House in declaring that like COVID frontliners, congressmen also went to “work” for the people.