Cayetano open to support Sara Duterte as next president

If President Rodrigo Duterte endorses his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, as a candidate for the presidential elections in 2022, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said he would be fine with it.

Cayetano made the remark on Thursday in response to the President's statement that he would resign from his post only if the likes of former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. or Senator Francis Escudero would replace him.

"If the President endorses his daughter as the next President, there's no question, I will support 100 percent. But if it's not his daughter, malamang suportahan ko," Cayetano told reporters in an interview.

"But if it's someone na hindi ko kayang tanggapin, I'll respectfully tell him: 'Mr. President, hindi kita kokontrahin, pero I don't think the record of this person is good,'" he added.

Speaking at the dinner he hosted for the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas in Malacañang on August 15, Duterte expressed his aversion to the fact that Vice President Leni Robredo is his constitutional successor.

"I think deep in my heart, if you follow the succession and Robredo takes over, hindi niya kaya. That's my honest opinion ko lang. Kung na sino lang sana diyan, in the likes of Escudero or Bongbong Marcos," the President said.

Even if he was Duterte's running mate in the 2016 elections, Cayetano seemed fine with the President's remark even if he was not named as a favored successor.

"I'm very, very, very happy and fulfilled where I am now. I told my wife, if this is the last job na ibigay sa akin ng Panginoon, I'm happy," he said.

"There have been instances in the past where the President recommended me, sometimes in private, sometimes in public. As a human, you get flattered, pero malayo pa e," he added.

Cayetano admitted that he is getting tired of politics.

"Politics is politics e, but when you're in the executive branch, you have a lot of work e. Uunahin mo pa ba kung sino ang ie-endorse nino?" he said.

The Cabinet official, however, declined to name a person which he does not want Duterte to endorse.

"It's too early. As I said ayokong mamulitika," he said.

Despite losing the vice presidential race, Duterte appointed Cayetano to the helm of the Department of Foreign Affairs. —JST, GMA News