Former presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Friday he has advised former President Rodrigo Duterte to run for senator in next year’s elections.

Initially, Panelo said he had advised Duterte to run for mayor of Davao City, but because the former chief executive appeared to be losing the respect of the people, he encouraged him to run for senator instead.

“Initially I told him to run for mayor of Davao. But because we saw a lot of disrespect for the former president, I encouraged him to run for senator instead since it’s a national position,” Panelo said in Filipino at the weekly The Agenda forum at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City.

Panelo said there will be respect and avoidance for the former president if he goes back to holding a national position.

He said he wants Duterte to run for vice president with daughter Sara Duterte for president in the 2028 national elections.

“Because I want him to run as Sara’s vice president in 2028, that’s why it is important for him to be number one in the senatorial race or at least in the top 3 so we’ll see if the people still love him,” Panelo said.

He said, however, that Duterte has not decided whether to run for mayor or senator in next year’s polls.

“I just talked to him and I asked what he had decided. He said he was studying carefully whether to run for mayor or senator or not at all. We will know on Tuesday on the last day of filing of candidacies,” Panelo said.

Duterte was the country’s 16th president, from 2016 to 2022. Prior to this, he was mayor of Davao City for years.

Panelo said it was not true that three Dutertes will be running for senator in the coming elections.