Nov. 13 (UPI) — Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to compete against his daughter for vice president next year after she filed to run Saturday.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, filed her candidacy for the 2022 vice president seat Saturday, and her father plans to file for the same seat Monday, ABS-CBN reported. Duterte-Carpio will run under a different political party, Lakas-CMD.
Duterte, 76, of the ruling PDP-Laban Party, took office as president in 2016, and is prohibited from running for the office again due to a constitutional provision that limits presidents to one term.
He had previously accepted the ruling party’s nomination to run for the country’s second-highest post in the 2022 national elections, saying he wanted to continue his administration’s efforts against insurgency and illegal drugs.
Last month, he announced that he would drop plans to run for vice president amid criticism that seeking the vice presidential seat was a way to circumvent the provision barring presidents from a second term, Philstar.com reported.
At the time, Duterte endorsed his former aide-turned senator, Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, to run for vice president instead, The Washington Post reported.
However, after more recent political maneuverings, including Sen. Go backing out of the vice presidential race and joining the presidential race, Duterte has now decided to run for vice president, his communications secretary, Martin Andanar, told ABS-CBN Saturday.
The PDP-Laban Party is without a standard bearer since Sen. Roland “Bato” Dela Rosa also withdrew his candidacy for president, according to PhilStar.com and ABS-CBN.
Duterte ran for president in 2016 on a promise to eliminate drugs, crime and government corruption.
In September, the International Criminal Court authorized an investigation into allegations that crimes were committed in his war on drugs campaign.
