Palace: Duterte willing to step down if Bongbong wins poll protest vs. Leni

President Rodrigo Duterte may turn over the reins of government to former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos if he succeeds in his bid to unseat Vice President Leni Robredo, Malacañang said Thursday.

Duterte’s spokesperson, Harry Roque, made this assertion a day after the President expressed preference for either Marcos or Senator Francis Escudero to take on the country’s top job should he decide to cut short his six-year term that ends in 2022.

“He [Duterte] has said that he thinks Senator Bongbong is one of the better qualified leader(s) to succeed him and if there’s development and he will win the protest and he becomes vice president, yes he will make true his word,” Roque said at a news conference.

“That’s a conclusion that you can make because he says he’s willing to step down except that he does not think the constitutional successor is qualified,” he added.

Reached for comment, Robredo’s team expressed confidence that such scenario will not happen.

“Insofar as we are concerned, President Duterte’s resignation will never happen because Mr. Marcos will never win his electoral protest,” said Robredo’s lead lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, in a statement.

Frustration over corruption

Duterte, in a speech in Malacañang on Tuesday, expressed frustration over continuing corruption in government as he floated again the possibility of cutting short his term. 

The President, however, expressed his aversion to the fact that Robredo is his constitutional successor.

Duterte had belittled Robredo's leadership ability, saying she could not handle the country's pressing problems, including the drug menace. He also said he prefers a military junta or the likes of Escudero and Marcos to succeed him.

The legal adviser of Robredo has since hit back at Duterte.

In a Facebook post, Robredo's legal adviser Barry Gutierrez hit out at Duterte appointees he deemed were "competent." mentioning officials who head or used to head the Department of Tourism (DOT), National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), and the National Food Authority (NFA).

On Duterte's choice of either Marcos or Escudero, Gutierrez retorted: "Hanggang dito ba naman nakalimutan pa rin si Alan?" Gutierrez was referring to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, who was Duterte's runningmate in the 2016 polls. 

Robredo defeated Escudero and Marcos in the 2016 vice presidential race. Marcos, however, filed a protest with the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

Marcos lost to Robredo by 263,473 votes in the May 2016 election which the former senator claimed was marred by fraud.

Duterte is a political ally of the Marcoses, whose patriarch, the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, was laid to rest at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on November 18, 2016 following support from the President himself and later, the Supreme Court. — RSJ, GMA News