Duterte personally ‘reaffirms’ presidential bid before Comelec

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday personally affirmed his presidential bid before the Commission on Elections' main office in Intramuros, Manila.

Duterte was prepared to file a new certificate of candidacy for president to address whatever defect his earlier COC had.

But according to his lawyer Attorney Vitaliano Aguirre, the Comelec law department said Duterte's COC was already in order and there was no more need to file a new one.

Duterte, pegged by a recent SWS survey as the frontrunner in the 2016 presidential derby, arrived with his running mate, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, and PDP-Laban president Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, to the cheers of dozens of supporters, most of them in red shirts, who trooped in front of the Palacio del Gobernador.

"Maraming issue na lumalabas, kaya naman siguro — once and for all —- pumunta na ako dito sa Comelec. Tanungin ko lang kung OK lang ba 'yung papeles ko. 'Pag hindi, sabi ko, i-DQ (disqualify) na lang ninyo ako, kung hindi sang-ayon sa procedure," Duterte told reporters following his appearance before the Comelec Law Department.

The tough-talking local executive made his appearance after the Comelec Second Division junked the petition to declare as nuisance the candidacy of Martin Diño, who first filed a COC for president under PDP-Laban.

Asked if the Comelec law department pointed out any defect in his COC, Duterte replied, "Wala, wala, okay na raw lahat."

He also said he was not worried about possible disqualification cases against him.

"I will not lose sleep because I'm not president. Sinasabi ko nga sa inyo, hindi ako mamamatay kung hindi ako presidente," he said.

Reaffirming bid

Aguirre said Duterte's visit was merely to "reaffirm" the mayor's bid for president.

He added that Duterte prepared a new COC for supposed filing on their visit on Tuesday, but it was no longer submitted since the one previously filed "is already perfect."

"There's no defect, and there's no need for personal filing," Aguirre said.

He added: "For two days and two nights we had been debating whether there was a need for personal filing of COC because the law ay talagang medyo ambigous, hindi malinaw. So to prevent any technicality, I recommended that Mayor Duterte should come here and personally file."

Aguirre said that Pimentel asked the poll body's law department if there was "anything more to be done by Mayor Duterte to complete" the filing, "or if there's any defect," and were told there was already none.

"It's a reaffirmation of his November 27 COC, meaning to say walang defect and he affirms his intention to run for president," Aguirre pointed out.

Changing his mind

Duterte initially filed his COC for re-election in Davao City, but eventually withdrew it and named his daughter Sara as replacement.

At the time of the filing of the COC in October, Duterte repeatedly said he is not interested in seeking for a national post despite clamors from his supporters both in Metro Manila and Davao.

However, he changed his mind after the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) ruled that Sen. Grace Poe, who is also running for president, is a natural-born Filipino and therefore should not be unseated as a lawmaker.

Duterte, a lawyer by profession, said the SET ruling violated the Constitution. —KBK/NB, GMA News