President Rodrigo Duterte said Saturday he will not run for vice president in 2022 and will retire from politics.
Duterte, who polls show remains almost as popular as when he was swept to victory in 2016 on a promise to rid the country of drugs, is constitutionally barred from seeking a second term as leader.
“The overwhelming sentiment of the Filipinos is that I am not qualified and it would be a violation of the constitution to circumvent the law, the spirit of the constitution” to run for the vice presidency, Duterte, 76, said.
“And so, in obedience to the will of the people, who after all placed me in the presidency many years ago, I now say, my countrymen, I will heed your advice. And today, I announce my retirement from politics,” the President added.
Duterte declared in August he would contest the country’s second-highest office in the May elections.
But a recent poll by Pulse Asia Research showed Duterte well back in second place among the preferred vice presidential candidates.
A separate survey by Social Weather Stations showed 60 percent of Filipinos did not think Duterte’s run for the vice presidency was in the spirit of the constitution.
Duterte made the surprise announcement at the Harbor Garden Tent in Pasay City where he accompanied his close aide, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, register for the vice presidency instead.
He has not yet announced his preferred successor, but many expect it will be his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Caprio, who has been the frontrunner in recent polls.
Duterte-Carpio, however, registered to run for her third term as mayor yesterday.
But Franco said she has until November 15 to make a late entry into the presidential race – as her father did in 2015.
“He [President Duterte] must have realized that if both Dutertes are talked about as running in 2022 then they might stand to lose, given the last survey results,” University of the Philippines political science professor Jean Franco told AFP.
The election season kicked off Friday with candidates vying for thousands of posts from president to town councillor.
The week-long registration process launches a typically noisy and deadly seven months of campaigning for more than 18,000 positions – but the raging pandemic and economic misery caused by COVID lockdowns could dampen the party atmosphere. With AFP
