By
11/15/2021 at 10:00am
Sara Duterte, the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s eldest daughter, is officially running for vice-president in next year’s elections, local media reported.
After months of speculation about her plans to run in 2022 polls, she has joined Lakas-CDM, a new political party headed by former president Gloria Arroyo, replacing a candidate who withdrew.
Ms. Duterte, current mayor of Davao major city, had been widely expected to run for president and succeed her father, as he cannot stand for another term. Also, she has led all 2021 opinion polls as the top presidential candidate.
However, she officially filed her candidacy as vice-president and was picked as the running mate for Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Marcos Jr., son of late Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos, is running as president in 2022 elections.
In the Philippines, where the president and vice-president are elected separately, other politicians and personalities have made their candidacy official, including former boxing champion and Manila’s mayor Manny Pacquiao, who’s running for president.
Mr. Duterte, who come to power in 2016, promised to addres the country’s crime figures and drug crisis.
However, his critics claimed he has encouraged police officers to perform thousands of extrajudicial killings of drug suspects.
Recently, the International Criminal Court called for a formal investigation over such killings, which happened during the deadly crackdown amid what Mr. Duterte called “war on drugs.”
Previously, Mr. Duterte said he would stand as vice-president but changed his mind and announced he would retire from politics.
According to Saturday’s reports quoting his communications secretary, he will file as vice-president himself before the November 15 deadline.
Presidential Communications chief Martin Adanar told the media that Duterte senior “will file his certificate of candidacy for the vice-presidency on Monday, that’s what he said.”
“I would like to believe that that is the plan for now. We don’t know if this will be the same plan by tomorrow or by Monday,” he added, explaining that the outcome remains uncertain.
