Sara Duterte: I’d rather run for barangay chairman

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — Amid allegations that she is being groomed for a higher post, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said yesterday she would rather run for barangay chairman.

“If you ask me if I want to run for senator, no. I would rather be a barangay captain because I want to clean canals,” Carpio said in her speech at the mass oathtaking of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials in this city yesterday even as she stressed the importance of barangay officials in nation-building.

She said she wanted to do more for her own barangay, but lamented that some officials in her village are not supportive of her programs.

Carpio’s statement came in the wake of the claim of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV that President Duterte would push her to run for president in 2022 to keep their family in power.

The mayor asked Trillanes to “leave me in peace in Davao City” and warned the senator that she could make life hard for people who caught her ire.  

Carpio said Trillanes should stop bothering her to ensure that her slot in the 2019 senatorial ticket would be available for a ”yellow senator.”