MANILA -- Malacañang on Monday said that President Rodrigo R. Duterte has not yet come up with a Senate slate despite endorsing some senatorial candidates backed by the administration.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this remark following reports claiming that the President will soon be coming out with a slate of senatorial bets for the 2019 mid-term polls.
“None that I know as of this time,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing when asked if reports about the President’s senate slate were true.
Panelo could neither confirm nor deny the reports but stressed that Duterte continues to endorse at least three candidates -- former Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go, former Presidential Political Affairs Adviser Francis Tolentino, and former Bureau of Corrections and Philippine National Police chief Rolando “Bato” dela Rosa.
“Wala naman siyang sinabi (He has not mentioned anything) but what I know is he is endorsing them every time he has an opportunity to do so,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.
Asked if the President is to come up with his own or adapt his party’s senate slate, Panelo said it would be up to the first leader of the country from Mindanao.
“Well, it’s his call. Depende kung anong gusto niya. Iyon ang (It will depend on what he wants. That’s the) logical consequence but this President is someone you cannot predict,” he added.
According to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey on senatorial bets conducted from Dec. 16 to 19, 2018, Tolentino ranked 17th to 18th in the survey while dela Rosa and Go were tied at 14th to 15th place.
Senators Cynthia Villar and Grace Poe topped the same SWS survey.
Earlier, Duterte said he felt that people who were surveyed have made a “mistake” by not including Go, dela Rosa, and Tolentino in the top 12 in the senatorial aspirants.
He spoke highly of Tolentino’s “proven integrity”, and Dela Rosa and Go’s “honesty.” (PNA)
