Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte got the much-needed support of Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban ng Bayang (PDP-Laban) as they announced that they are now ready to push the presidential bid of the mayor and there is no more backing out for Duterte to be their standard-bearer in the upcoming national elections in 2016.
The President of PDP-Laban, Sen. Koko Pimentel said on Monday, November 23 that they already signed a new certificate of nomination for Mayor Duterte which he would file at the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to substitute their official candidate Martin Diño who earlier withdrew his candidacy for President.
Sen. Pimentel will could not say, however, when Mayor Duterte would go to the Comelec to file the Certificate of Nomination. He was quoted as saying “Sa timetable, I can’t say anything. Judging from the historical record of Mayor Duterte, he used to file his certificate of candidacy (COC) for mayor in a low profile manner, walang motorcade, walang mga parade…, so hindi ko masagot, maybe we will just all be surprised na naka-file na pala,” he said.
The PDP-Laban president also clarified about the issue that Mayor Duterte could not substitute Diño since the latter’s COC showed that he was running for mayor of Pasay City, the senator said it was just a “clerical error” since the Comelec itself listed him as a presidential candidate.
When the media asked Sen. Pimentel if the party would also field a senatorial ticket, he said that they had no choice but to choose from those who already filed their COCs for senator.
