Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced on Saturday that he would not run for vice-presidency in 2022 and would retire from politics, paving the way for his daughter to succeed him as head of the country. “The prevailing feeling… among Filipinos is that I am unqualified and it would be a violation of the constitution” to run for vice president, Rodrigo Duterte said. “Today, I am announcing my withdrawal from politics,” he added.
Rodrigo Duterte, whose polls show he remains almost as popular as when he won the presidential election in 2016 by promising to end the drug problem, among other things, is not constitutionally authorized to run for a second term. At the end of August, he had therefore announced his candidacy for the vice-presidency of the country, intending to continue his “crusade” against drugs and the rebels. This news was immediately denounced by the opposition who saw it as a “smokescreen” and a parade against possible legal proceedings.
Protected by his daughter?
This Saturday, Rodrigo Duterte made the unexpected statement in the place where he was to register his candidacy for the vice-presidency. He did not specify when he intended to quit political life. The president has also not indicated who he wants to succeed him as president, but many speculate on the candidacy of Sara, his daughter, who belongs to another party. She is currently the best placed in the polls.
If Sara Duterte-Carpio were elected to the supreme office, she could help protect Rodrigo Duterte from criminal prosecution in his country but also from those brought against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The latter gave in September the green light to investigate the campaign against drug trafficking led by the government and marked by thousands of murders committed by the police. Sara Duterte-Carpio, who holds the post of mayor of Davao city in the south of the country, a post held by her father before he became president, had said she would not want to run if her father ran for vice -presidence.