CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — If it were up to her, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio would rather be a barangay chair than a senator, as she reminded village officials during a mass oath taking here on Friday the important role of the barangays in nation-building.
“If you ask me if I want run as senator, no, I would rather be a barangay captain because I want clean canals,” Duterte-Carpio told the more than a thousand barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials who were present.
She said she wanted to dispel speculations, especially from Sen. Antonio Trillanes III who said that she is running for either senator or the country’s top chief executive position to protect her father, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte, from any legal actions against him once he stepped down in 2022.
She said she doesn’t really have plans to run for a seat in the senate, adding “the reason I don’t say I won’t be running for senate is for my political detractors to feel annoyed.”
“They will be happy and I do not want to give them that happiness. Maybe later when it’s time for filing of candidacy,” the mayor furthered.
Friday’s event was the oath taking of most of the city’s 80 barangay chairpersons witnessed by their councilors and SK officials.
The mayor also vented her frustration of the officials in her own barangay, who she said are supporting other political leaders.
She said she wanted to do more for the village where she resides but the barangay officials there
are not that supportive of her programs and projects.
After witnessing the activity, she also dropped by the mass swearing-in of barangay officials in Misamis Oriental. She was also the guest of honor of the “Pagbabago” program at the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines on that same day.
Earlier, Mayor Oscar Moreno gave his annual report at the Divisoria park before proceeding to the mass oath taking venue. (davaotoday.com)
