With under two months before the May 2022 elections, Malacañang said President Duterte is still not endorsing any presidential aspirant and denied he was supporting the presidential bid of Vice President Leni Robredo.
Cabinet Secretary Melvin Matibag made the statement in response to the statement of Duterte during a recent interview that he hopes that his successor is a lawyer.
A top official of the ruling party PDP-Laban said that based on President Duterte’s criteria, Robredo met the qualifications set by the President for his successor.
Eastern Samar Governor Ben Evardone, who also serves as PDP-Laban vice president for the Visayas, believes that Duterte “virtually” endorsed Robredo’s presidential bid when he said that the next chief executive should be a compassionate and decisive lawyer.
“She’s the only one who can hurdle President Duterte’s standard for his successor,” Evardone added.
However, Matibag insisted that there’s no endorsement coming from the President.
“Duterte was merely setting up standards that presidential candidates must meet,” Matibag said, adding “he mentioned general standards of what the next president should have. It so happened that only two of the presidential aspirants are lawyers and they are Robredo and Jose Montemayor Jr.”
Matibag said most of the presidential candidates have approached the ruling PDP-Laban for an endorsement, including Senator Manny Pacquiao, who heads one of two factions in the ruling party.
PDP-Laban so far has backed only Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, who is not even a party member.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said more than 49 million official ballots have already been printed at the National Printing Office, representing 74 percent of the more than 67 million ballots needed.
The poll body started the printing of the official ballots in January.
At a press conference Tuesday, Comelec chairman Saidamen Pangarungan said the poll body is fully committed to being more transparent in its preparations for the May 9 national and local polls.
Pangarungan said they are taking all opportunities to open these preparations to the public “without compromising the security of the ballots.”
Over the weekend, President Rodrigo Duterte came to the defense of the poll body amid allegations of disregarding the rule to open ballot printing preparations to election observers.
Poll watch dogs, including the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), earlier criticized the Comelec for not allowing election observers to see the preparations for the national elections.
Commissioner George Erwin Garcia said the Comelec has already started the deployment of ballot boxes to be used on election day.
The deployment from the warehouse to the numerous provincial hubs started last February 1 and is expected to end on March 31.
The deployment of the voting machines and CCS laptops will begin on April 2 and last until April 19.
The official ballots will be shipped from the National Printing Office beginning April 20 until May 5.
Also on Tuesday, the Philippine National Police (PNP) distanced itself from retired members who openly endorse or express support for certain candidates in the May polls.
In a statement, PNP public information office chief Brig. Gen. Roderick Alba said the police force remains nonpartisan and will never endorse any political party or candidate vying for any elective positions.
“With all due courtesies to our retired PNP officers, we respect your political views and opinion as private individuals. But by all means, please spare the PNP from partisan political activity,” Alba said.
Alba said messages in social media posted by retired police officers and other “non-PNP individuals misrepresenting the organization” do not reflect the political views and opinion of the force.
He said the PNP is not in the business of making any political statement or meddling in campaign-related activities of certain candidates or political parties.
