Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio (FILE PHOTO)

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Wednesday urged her father, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, longtime aide Senator Bong Go and ruling party PDP-Laban to stop dragging her into the party political disarray.

In a statement posted at her FB account, Duterte-Carpio challenges her father and its political party members to be accountable with their political decisions in 2022. This after President Duterte announced that he may reconsider his vice presidential bid along with Senator Bong Go, if Mayor Sara decides to pursue her presidential candidacy.

Duterte-Carpio disclosed that her father confirmed to her personally his decision to run as vice president next year, with long-time aide Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go as president.

This is because the Davao mayor was also presented with the option of “endorsing” the Duterte-Go tandem and another option for her to run next year as president, with the lawmaker as her vice president.

“I respectfully advise them to stop talking about me and make me the reason for them running or not running,” Duterte-Carpio said.

She prefaced her statement with an apology to her mother and said she was speaking “from the point of view of a politician and nothing else.”

“I strongly suggest to the President and Senator Go to own up publicly [to] their decision to run as a tandem. If they can confirm it privately, then I do not see the reason why they cannot be candid about it to the public,” she explained.

Duterte’s daughter, who topped recent opinion polls on the 2022 presidential elections, also pointed out that she is not a “last two minutes” person, a reference to how easy she could be made substitute as a presidential candidate for the 2022 polls, which happened when the President ran in 2016.

“I think, I organize, and I implement accordingly. In the meantime, I refuse to be a political punching bag for a party in complete disarray,” she added.

Duterte-Carpio also directly addressed stalwarts of the other PDP-Laban faction, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and PDP-Laban secretary general Ron Munsayac, saying they should “stop blaming me for the sad state of their political party.”

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi in July said Duterte’s daughter is “more PDP” than Sen. Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao’s and Cusi’s factions have been battling control over the country’s ruling party. Recently, Cusi’s group ousted Pacquiao as party president.

A Pacquiao ally also alleged that the rift between Pacquiao and Cusi was rooted in Duterte-Carpio’s possible presidential bid. The Davao mayor belongs to a different party— Hugpong ng Pagbabago.

“It is not my fault that no one among you is a leader worthy of the respect of the majority. Do not blame me for the sitcom that your party has been reduced to,” Duterte-Carpio said.

But Pimentel questioned his inclusion in Sara’s statement, noting that the party’s dispute was an internal issue.

“I never dragged an outsider into our internal dispute or blamed an outsider for the internal dispute or for causing the internal dispute. Our internal dispute has been caused by someone from the inside,” said Pimentel.

“That an outsider is being considered as the presidential candidate by an insider is not the fault of the person being mentioned but the fault of the insider who lacks faith, confidence and loyalty to his Party and the talent and skills of the Party members,” he added.

The rift within the ruling party began in March when Cusi’s group began collecting signatures from PDP-Laban members to urge Duterte to run for vice president next year, when his term as president ends.