'I am resisting': Duterte shuns vice presidential bid in 2022
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday night ruled out a run for the vice presidency in 2022, saying he is "resisting" calls led by his own political party.
Leadership of the PDP-Laban had been egging for Duterte to gun for the said post, where he would be allowed to select his running mate for president.
"That's hard because I will be retiring but this time, I will choose who will be candidate for president," he told SMNI News in a televised interview. "When that person wins, they will say I am perpetuating myself in power. So I am resisting."
The 1987 Constitution bars a president who has been in office for over four years from seeking a second term, but does not prohibit a run for vice president.
Duterte, 76, steps down nearly a year from now. In 2015, he had repeatedly shunned running for president from being a Davao City mayor, only to eventually throw himself in the race and win.
Along with calls for a vice presidential bid is a push for a tandem with him and his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
If pushed through, it would mark the first time in Philippine history for a father-daughter tandem to run for the country's top posts. Analysts have described it as the "final stop" in the country's decades-long problem of political dynasties.
The elder Duterte in the same interview said he does not see anyone yet possible to succeed him in June 2022. He said he has advised his daughter anew on a presidential run.
"I talked to Inday last night and told her 'do not run'," the president said in Filipino. "Do not ever, ever commit the mistake of running for the presidency. I do not mean to insult the Filipino people, but you don't really get anything in being president."
Still, Duterte said he may publicly endorse a candidate "when the time comes." Per his spokesperson Harry Roque, those possible in his list are his daughter, senators Manny Pacquiao and Bong Go, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, and ex-senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
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