Duterte ‘resigns’ from politics

On October 2nd, the Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte publicly announced that he would ‘retire’ from politics. This occurred days after he accepted the vice-presidential nomination from his party, PDP-Laban. Noteworthy, however, is that in 2015, one year before he ran for president, Duterte also announced his “retirement” from politics. In his 2021 announcement, he explained that he saw the survey to the Filipinx people in which a majority of the people questioned the constitutionality of his vice presidential run. He claimed that he wanted to obey the Filipinx people that elected him. This became international news as many Western media and organizations did condemn the President’s “war on drugs” which led to thousands of extrajudicial killings in the nation, and his administration’s persecution of journalists and news media outlets, like those of Rappler or ABS-CBN. He previously claimed in July 2021 that he would run for vice-president to ensure his immunity from International Criminal Court persecution, as the court is currently investigating Duterte’s deadly and infamous “war on drugs”. 

However, there are rumors that his daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, may run for President, with his long-term aide, Bong Go as Vice President. Bong Go filed his candidacy last week under PDP-Laban, but Sara Duterte-Carpio is not in that party.. Sara is currently mayor of Davao City, which her father was the mayor of beforehand. President Duterte himself has publicly encouraged his daughter to run for president, teasing that there will be a Duterte-Go tandem for the 2022 elections. However, Sara herself claimed that she will simply re-run for mayor. The 2022 Philippine elections will certainly be a spectacle, with Boxer and Senator Manny Pacquiao joining the race earlier in the year. There are even rumors that the son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos will run for president. Who will the Filipinx people vote for? Who will wield power?