(UPDATES) VICE President Sara Duterte on Tuesday said her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, and her two brothers, Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, would run for the Senate in 2025.

"They are raring to run, PRRD (former president Duterte), my elder brother Paolo, who is a congressman, as senator, and Sebastian Duterte [as senator, too], so yes, there will be three Dutertes [in the Senate] next year, and that is confirmed," Sara said in Filipino on the sidelines of the Office of the Vice President's Pride reception held in Cagayan de Oro City on Tuesday.

Davao City Mayor Sebastian 'Baste' Duterte. FILE/MALACAÑANG PHOTO

She also said the younger Duterte, who goes by the nickname Baste, is vying to become the possible successor of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in 2028.

"My mother told me that the one who will run as senator is my younger brother, Baste Duterte. He will be the one to run in 2028 as president. My mother also said that I should go back to Davao and run as mayor," Duterte said in Bisaya.

ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro slammed the move of the Duterte family to run in the 2025 and 2028 elections, calling it a form of "bureaucrat capitalism," where a single family will control every aspect of a nation's politics.

"They are making this a business not just for corruption but to hide their sins from the public. This was done by the Marcos family, and now, the Dutertes are going to replace them," Castro said in Filipino.

Castro added that the development exposes the intensifying conflict between the two families, which she described as the "factions of the ruling class."

"We are now seeing an all-out war between the two factions of the ruling class: the Dutertes, who are backed by China, and the Marcoses, who are backed by the US," she added.

On the other hand, the former president's chief legal counsel, Salvador Panelo, welcomed the news.

"Three Dutertes running for the Senate in 2025 is a political storm that their detractors and those undeservingly clinging to power will not be able to contain and survive," he said in a statement.

"The Dutertes will be the demolition team that will dismantle the vested political structures built by those who turned their backs on the people's welfare and interest and who focused on enriching themselves in office and transgressing the constitutional rights of individuals and entities."

The revelation of the Dutertes' political plans ends months of speculation about their plans for the 2025 and, possibly, the 2028 national elections.

In a previous engagement last year, the vice president said she aimed to run in the 2025 national elections, but she immediately took this back and said she would continue as the country's second-in-command.

She reiterated her stand when reporters asked her about her plans for 2025, saying that she would speak with her team at the Office of the Vice President on her plans after she leaves the Department of Education on July 19.

She also declined to answer questions about whether she would lead a "new opposition."

Her focus right now, Duterte said, is the transition to the next secretary of education, which she said is a "position of trust."

She said the next education secretary should be a "leader and a manager."

"There are no requirements for an education secretary, in fact, in Southeast Asia, not all education secretaries come from the sector. You just need to be a leader and a manager," Duterte said.

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