Duterte eyes presidency in 2016

Amid rumors of an impending coup d’état, and with the peace process in doubt after the Mamasapano debacle, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte finally declared his plan to run for President in the 2016 elections, if only to save the country from war.

Davao City Mayor Duterte

Duterte made this declaration at the Lyceum-Northwestern University in Dagupan, ending months of speculation over his political plans, given that he had been going around the country for a “listening tour.”

Talking before at least 2,000 participants of the first federalism forum in Northern Luzon, Duterte, 69, offered himself as an option in the 2016 elections, saying his brand of leadership could help the country — already confronted with problems on corruption, criminality and the possible collapse of the peace talks in southern Philippines — avoid imminent disaster.

“If only to save this Republic, I can run for President,” said Duterte, who spent at least three decades of his life as a politician, 22 of them as the tough-talking, crime-fighting mayor of Davao City. “I can make this sacrifice if only to save this country from being fractured,” he added.

Asked to clarify his statement, Duterte told reporters later that it was not his ambition to become president and he only wanted to share his vision for the country.

“I was personifying (the presidency) to talk about it. I was just referring to the problems of the country… That is why I said that was my vision, not my ambition. That is my advice to whoever becomes president,” he said.

“Anybody of us could be the solution (to the country’s problems) but I have no money. That is why I am taking myself out of the loop because I have no money. You need P10 to P15 billion (to wage a presidential campaign). You can ask for money but at what price would you get it? Even money has a price,” he said.