Inday Sara Duterte had consistently rejected any intentions to run for President, but does this sound like it had been done before? Is this a political déjí vu?
Her father, Tatay Digong, is ending his six-year term, and under the 1987 Constitution, he is not eligible for re-election.
As Presidential Daughter, who just withdrew her run for the Davao mayoralty, it is wildly-surmised that she will run for President.
She resigned from her local party Hukbo ng Pagbabago, pledged membership to a national political party Lakas, and is rumored will substitute the unknown Lakas candidate for President.
For now, Sara Duterte is topping a recent survey of presidentiables, described her as an “ideal replacement” for her father, as touted by loyal followers. Have you seen the Run, Sara, run! banners around? Did you see the three big buses that visited Dumaguete recently as part of a nation-wide caravan to urge Davao Mayor Sara Duterte to run for president?
Banners had been posted in major cities with the slogan Run Sara run!, seen in the busiest highways all over the country.
Regardless whether the group is working independently or not, the thought of another Duterte in power has thus been planted in the public imagination.
Tatay Digong mentioned that while his daughter is being urged by several factions to run for president, he had advised her, as her father, not to run because the job of a president is “not fit for a woman”.
Recently, however, Digong added that his daughter Sara might just give in to the public’s clamor.
Remember that Tatay Digong himself made a 180-degree turnaround late in 2016 — from refusing to run for President to the substitution of Martin Dino. He followed this up with a series of backtracks from his pronouncements as a candidate, and then as President.
To recall, while Digong promised he would do everything to protect the country’s sovereign claim over the West Philippine Sea against China, look now: he’s acting like the staunch partner of China, even bowing to an oil exploration deal, never mind what the public thinks about it.
A big part of Duterte’s 2016 campaign was focused on the use of social media, and the same platform is evident for online promotion, troll activity, the use of hundreds of “cyber troops” to spread misinformation and propaganda, and harass users with opposing viewpoints.
Online operations were found to include fellow party members, professional contractors, paid citizens, and volunteer groups, as well as fake accounts that can flood social media channels with spam, and amplify their metrics.
Will the Dutertes succeed in having another Duterte succeed the position of the Presidency? Indeed, Sara Duterte is the logical person to succeed her father, perpetuate his legacy, stage-manage the scenario that it was the people who clamored for more of the same Duterte brand of leadership, justify Duterte’s dreaded “war on drugs”, and headstrong ways to do what he believed was right, notwithstanding the howl of protests from human rights advocates, and ignoring normal standards of decency, morality, and basic GMRC.
Abangan!
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