AN ex-cop first took notice of Sara Duterte, her father’s daughter, as the one to watch, the next star to shine above the cresting wave of new leaders. Since then, I’ve been keeping my eyes on the Mayor and the man who said those words, Senator Ping Lacson.
Stumping for her Hugpong candidates whom she had initially introduced as a baker’s dozen, Ms. Sara aka Mrs. Carpio is the formidable one. She has presence on stage and off. She appears to be the fighting-est of them all, even if she’s the team manager, not its choicest candidate. After the speeches, antics and entertainment, it is she to whom media flock with their microphones and cameras for one-liners and closeups. Apparently, her experience as mayor and once-upon-a-time vice mayor to her father have more than adequately prepared her for the role of chief campaigner and spokesperson. Which reminds me, where is Senator Manny Pacquiao, the other campaign manager of PRRD?
“This early” there are speculations that she’s being groomed to be the President’s successor in 2022. Like every prudent politician, she has repeatedly denied her interest in something as far away as three years into the future, a denial that her father echoed when he said, “Believe me, she will not leave Davao for national politics,” or words to that effect. Didn’t Rodrigo Duterte hem and haw in 2016 about his presidential ambitions? Didn’t Cory Aquino look the other way when first her name was dropped to challenge Marcos? More recently, didn’t Bong Go and Bato de la Rosa initially eschew any plans for the midterm elections?
This is the Mayor Sara who punched a barangay tanod over a demolition after she had ordered the demolition stopped, the very same who vroom-vroomed her way to a rally on a monster motorcycle with nary a PSG in sight to keep up with her on the highway. The same First Daughter that Papa Digong called a “butangera” who had confiscated all his prized motorcycles after he became President.
In the era of Sara, I’m also interested in the whereabouts and whatabouts of Ping Lacson. What if watcher and watched joined forces, or ended up facing each other as political rivals?
