Sara on 2022: Still a no

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — It’s still a “no” to the presidency for Mayor Sara Duterte despite the latest survey result showing her leading among possible presidential candidates in 2022.

“For now, no,” President Duterte’s daughter said in her radio show Monday when sought for comment on the result of the survey conducted by the OCTA Research Group.

The mayor said there is no chance that she would change her mind.

“What’s my reason (to seek the presidency)? I do not want to enumerate the reasons because there’s a lot. I just don’t want to offend or hurt anybody,” she added.

OCTA’s Tugon Ng Masa survey, conducted from Jan. 26 to Feb. 1 with the results released Monday night, showed that 22 percent of the 1,200 respondents prefer Duterte among the potential candidates for president.

She is followed by Sen. Grace Poe (13 percent), Manny Pacquiao (12 percent), former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (12 percent), Manila Mayor Isko Moreno (11 percent) and Sen. Bong Go (six percent).

Trailing them are Vice President Leni Robredo (five percent), Senate President Vicente Sotto III (three percent), former speaker and Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (three percent), former interior secretary Mar Roxas (two percent), Sen. Cynthia Villar (two percent) and Sen. Panfilo Lacson (two percent).

Obtaining one percent support were Sen. Sonny Angara, President Duterte, Sorsogon Gov. Francis Escudero and Sen. Richard Gordon.

Based on the survey, Duterte obtained the highest support from respondents in Mindanao at 48 percent, followed by those in the Visayas at 20 percent, Metro Manila at 17 percent and the rest of Luzon at 11 percent.

She had the highest support among the poorest respondents at 24 percent, followed by those in Class D at 22 percent and Class ABC at 16 percent.

At 14 percent, the presidential daughter also topped the potential candidates for vice president next year, although she is statistically tied with Moreno and Pacquiao, who both received support from 11 percent of the respondents.

They are followed by Poe (10 percent), Cayetano (eight percent), Sotto (seven percent), Marcos (six percent), Go (six percent), Escudero (five percent), Robredo (five percent), Villar (four percent), Lacson (three percent), Roxas (three percent), Sen. Pia Cayetano (two percent), Angara (one percent) and Gordon (one percent).

The STAR earlier reported the results of OCTA’s poll on candidates for senator, which showed Pacquiao, Escudero and former speaker Cayetano as frontrunners.

Huge billboards and tarpaulins emblazoned with “Run Sara Run” have sprouted around Metro Manila and other urban centers. – Janvic Mateo