PLAN B? They have the same alma mater, belong to the same fraternity and hail from the same region. So will Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte substitute for former ambassador Roy Señeres in the 2016 presidential race?
Speaking to radio DZMM, Señeres denied that he will readily offer to withdraw his bid and let Duterte take his place in the 2016 elections.
"Hindi po totoo yan. Hindi naman tayo basta-basta mag-aalok ng ating accreditation ng [Commission on Elections] na tayo'y isang presidentiable. Hindi basta-basta iaalok yan kahit kanino," he said.
However, he also did not discount the possibility that Duterte could substitute for him in 2016 - in the same way that the tough-talking mayor could support his electoral bid.
He noted that he and Duterte are both graduates of the San Beda College of Law and hail from Mindanao.
"Either I can support you or you can support me. Pareho naman kaming taga-Mindanao. Why not support my candidacy na lang? After all, nakapag-file na ako." he said.
"One of us should give in and it's not only me. It could also be him supporting my candidacy. We belong to the same school, we both came from the same region in the Philippines, which is Mindanao," he added.
Señeres, who is also a party-list lawmaker, said he has yet to talk to Duterte about the latter's proposed platform of government if he runs in 2016.
The former ambassador said there are certain policy issues that they need to thresh out such as their differences of opinion on the case of Sen. Grace Poe's citizenship.
Duterte earlier said he decided to run for president because he does not agree with the Senate Electoral Tribunal's decision that Poe, a foundling, is a natural-born Filipino.
Señeres, however, disagrees with Duterte.
"We shouldn't be too technical...In case of doubt, we should resolve in favor of the foundling. They should let Senator Grace Poe run," he said.
He added: "May the best candidate win."
Duterte earlier said he is in talks with his political party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), to secure his substitution and run for president instead of Martin Diño.
Diño has withdrawn his candidacy, saying he felt insulted that the Comelec is considering him as a possible nuisance candidate.
One possible hurdle in Duterte's substitution is that Diño's certificate of candidacy stated that he is running for mayor of Pasay City, instead of president.
Señeres said Comelec could dismiss the error since Diño had "no intention of running for mayor."
"We have to follow his intention. In all likelihood, Dino was probably right when he said it was a typographical error. Even his own announcement, he said he was running for president. He never said he is running for mayor of Pasay," he said.