“I WILL not back down from this race.”

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago put to rest rumors circulating online that she would withdraw from the presidential derby to make way for Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte whom she allegedly supports.

“I have high regard for Mayor Duterte but I will not back down from this race. Until victory,” Santiago said in a post on her official Facebook page on Tuesday.

Last Saturday, Duterte announced that he will run for president after the Senate Election Tribunal junked Grace Poe’s disqualification case.

Duterte said that Poe is not a natural-born Filipino citizen and must not become president.

He is still formalizing with PDP-Laban (Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan), the political party that offered their presidential slot to the Davao City mayor, after the previous presidential candidate  had withdrawn his candidacy.

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano is Duterte’s running mate.