BREAKING NEWS: Senator Bato to withdraw COC as President! – source

Senator Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa is set to withdraw his candidacy for President under the PDP-Laban before the close of office hours of the Comelect today (Nov. 12, 2021), a source said.

This development comes after Davao City mayor Inday Sara Duterte took her oath of membership with the Lakas-CMD last night in Cavite as a preparatory step to her filing her certificate of candidacy either for President or Vice President.

The PDP-Laban game plan apparently anticipates Mayor Inday Sara to run for President, and Senator Bato’s withdrawal will signal the party’s all-out support for her.

Mayor Inday Sara has declined to answer questions on her next moves after last night’s simple oath-taking ceremony administered by House Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez at a wedding reception where she stood as principal sponsor along with former Senator Bongbong Marcos.

Her closest allies have hinted that Mayor Inday Sara has decided to run for President after all in the wake of the growing public clamor urging her to succeed her father, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

Only two weeks ago, after a three-hour closed door meeting with BBM, Mayor Inday Sara reiterated her decision not to seek national office and declared her support for Marcos’s candidacy for President.

In an interview with CNN Philippines, Davao City councilor Danilo Dayanghirang said he had a long conversation with Mayor Inday Sara last Nov. 9 after she withdrew her COC as re-electionist candidate for Mayor of Davao City.

Mayor Inday Sara intimated to him that she is heeding the “deafening calls” for her to run for President, Dayanghirang said.