Duterte confirms he’ll run for Philippines VP next year

MANILA (AP):

Tough-talking Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has confirmed rumblings that he will run next year for vice-president, in what critics say is an attempt at an end-run around constitutional term limits.

Duterte, who is notorious for his vulgar rhetoric and crackdown on illegal drugs, which has killed thousands of mostly petty suspects, said in comments broadcast Wednesday that he will run for vice-president to “continue the crusade”.

“I will run for vice-president,” he said. “I’m worried about the drugs, insurgency. Well, number one is insurgency, then criminality, drugs.”

The Philippines has been struggling through the COVID-19 pandemic, with rising infections and death rates and a slow vaccination roll-out, but Duterte’s popularity ratings have remained high.

Polls suggest that running Duterte in tandem with his daughter, Sara Duterte, currently the mayor of Davao City, as the presidential candidate would be a strong pairing, said Manila-based political analyst Richard Heydarian.

The idea of the two running together has been discussed since 2019, he said, though Duterte advisers have reportedly said that he has suggested he might not run for vice-president if his daughter decides to announce a bid for president.

“The campaign for Sara Duterte has more or less kicked off, it seems, almost irrespective of what Duterte’s position will be,” Heydarian said. “A Duterte/Duterte tandem is increasingly looking like the formidable team to beat in the next year’s elections.”

Further muddying the waters, however, Sara Duterte posted on Facebook later Wednesday that her father had told her he would run for vice-president with his former aide, Senator Christopher ‘Bong’ Go, running for president.

She did not address her own aspirations, but said her father and Go should announce publicly that they would run together if they have made that decision.

“I respectfully advise them to stop talking about me and make me the reason for them running or not running,” she wrote.

Philippine presidents are limited by the 1987 Constitution to a single six-year term. At least two former presidents, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, have made successful runs for lower public offices after serving as president, but not for vice-president.

If Duterte goes ahead with his run, it will likely face court challenges from the opposition, though Heydarian noted the Supreme Court has strongly supported the president’s moves in the past.

A new opposition coalition, 1Sambayan, whose name means One Nation, said Duterte’s decision came as “no surprise”, and made the coalition “more determined in unifying the democratic forces in responding to the challenge”.

“It shows a clear mockery of our constitution and democratic process,” the group said. “The candidacy is both legally and morally wrong, and we trust that the Filipino people will realise his brazen, selfish and self-serving motives.”

Duterte, 76, had previously hinted that he may run for vice-president, and his confirmation Wednesday came after a senior official of his PDP-Laban party on Tuesday said that the president had agreed to run as its candidate.

Duterte “agreed to make the sacrifice and heed the clamour of the people” to run in the May 9 national elections, said Karlo Nograles, PDP-Laban’s executive vice-president.