During the joint meeting of national and regional task forces to end local communist armed conflict (Elcac) in Cagayan de Oro City on Friday, Duterte called Go “president” and asked him to “stand up and see if it suits you well.”
“Stand up and wave to the people. That’s too low; raise your hand higher,” said Duterte to Go in Visayan.
Duterte said Go has been with him for 21 years since he started in 1988 and has never lost an election.
“So how long have I been a mayor, how many terms? One, two, three, four, five, six? Seven? So that’s the story there,” Duterte added.
The President hinted that Go might be his possible successor after he reiterated that he had no plans of staying in office after his term expires in 2022.
Duterte said there were so many corrupt people and “no one dared to bring them down because of fear.”
He said since he was no longer running for any position, “what should I be scared about?”
Stopping short of endorsing his former top aide, Duterte said Go “would be the one to take the blow.”
“He’s very hardworking. You always read his name in the newspaper, don’t you? If there’s a fire somewhere, he’ll go there wherever it may be. Just look at his endless flights. By afternoon when I fly back to Manila, he’d be there too,” the President added.
Prior to becoming a senator, Go was Duterte’s longtime aide from his days as Davao City mayor up to his presidency.
The senator, however, said on Friday that he was not gunning for a higher position in next year’s polls as he would rather focus first on the coronavirus pandemic.
“I am very grateful for the trust given to me by the President. Salamat po sa tiwala pero hindi po ako interesado (Thank you for the trust, but I am not interested),” Go said when asked if he was gunning for a higher position in the 2022 national elections.
Go was among those named as possible contenders for the 2022 presidential race in a Pulse Asia survey, which Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, the President’s eldest daughter, had topped. Duterte-Carpio also topped an Octa Research survey both on the preferred candidates for president and vice president.
Duterte leadership style
Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo said there must be a serious study on why Filipinos are attracted to the strongarm leadership style of President Duterte when sought for a response to the surveys.
Speaking in Filipino during “The Mangahas Interviews” on GMA News, Robredo said this was something that “we need to face.”
Robredo said understanding the people’s preference would help in offering an alternative style of leadership that would still address the concerns of Filipinos.
Robredo stressed that the popularity of the Duterte-style of leadership must not be taken for granted.
“I think, maraming mensahe, marami iyong malalim na mensahe kung bakit ganoon at kailangan harapin natin iyon. Kasi kung hindi natin iyon haharapin, hindi natin masosolusyonan iyong ating mga problema bilang isang bansa (there are a lot of messages, a lot of deep message in the reason for this. And we need to face that because if we don’t face it, we will not be able to solve our problems as one country),” she said.
In the Pulse Asia and Octa Research surveys, Robredo placed fifth with 8 percent and 5 percent of respondents indicating that they would vote for her as president in the 2022 elections.
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