By Manny Piñol
Look at how far people would go just to convince Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte to run for President.
Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, who is one of the leading contenders in the race for the Vice Presidency, last night told Duterte he was willing to sacrifice and quit the race to serve as the Davao City Mayor’s campaign manager for the Presidency.
Cayetano reportedly told the 70-year-old Davao City Mayor that he could be his campaign manager while gunning for the Vice Presidency or even go to the extent of abandoning the quest for the second highest position just to focus on Duterte’s campaign.
Cayetano, who declared his candidacy for Vice President in Davao City last month, has doggedly pursued and convinced Duterte to run for President saying that only the Davao City Mayor has the experience and the resolve to implement drastic changes in governance in the country today.
It came as a surprise to the Duterte camp, however, that Cayeteno, who celebrated his birthday last night with the Davao City Mayor as one of his guests, would go to the extent of sacrificing his own political career just to convince the reluctant candidate to take a shot at the Presidency.
Duterte Media Group close-in writer Roldan Gorgonio, who joined the Duterte party in the trip to Taguig, Metro Manila last night, said the Mayor was obviously surprised by the offer of Cayetano.
There was no report, however, on how the Davao City Mayor reacted to Cayetano’s offer.
The Senator, who still has three years left in his second term, has made no secret of his admiration for Duterte, who turned Davao City from one of the most violent cities in the Philippines to become one of the World’s 10 Safest Cities.
Cayetano has repeatedly said that only a Duterte as President could address the serous problems of crime, drugs, corruption and jobs generation in the country today.
The Senator’s offer to quit the Vice Presidential race in exchange for a Duterte Presidency is the latest of the extreme actions done by Duterte supporters to convince him to run for President.
In September, Duterte supporters held a People’s Rallly in Luneta attended by thousands. Earlier, hundreds of vehicles participated in a national caravan which ended up in Davao City.
Shortly before the filing of the Certificates of Candidacy last Oct. 16, Duterte’s daughter and former Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio shaved her head to signify support for her father’s candidacy. She was followed by thousands of Duterte supporters all over the country.
They, however, failed to convince the Mayor to run for President.
Whether Cayetano’s offer of supreme political sacrifice would work on Duterte will not be known until Dec. 10 when the deadline for substitution for Presidential candidates ends.
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