Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday said she will run for president in 2028 – a move that was met by jeers and cheers from allies and critics alike, and a terse “good luck” from Malacañang.
Duterte, who was impeached last year only to see the country’s Supreme Court throw the case out over procedural issues, made the announcement days before her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, begins a pre-trial hearing at the International Criminal Court in The Hague over crimes against humanity allegedly committed as part of a brutal crackdown on drugs.
“I offer my life, my strength, and my future in the service of our nation,” the 47-year-old Vice President said.
“I am Sara Duterte. I will run for president of the Philippines,” she added.
The opposition, Senator Risa Hontiveros said, remains on track in its timeline to name a standard-bearer for the 2028 presidential elections despite Duterte’s early declaration.
“We have been together for several years and regularly talk, even before this recent important development. We have continued to align and agree on the criteria or standards we are looking for in our group, and that has not changed,” Hontiveros said.
She said the opposition is focused on unifying to select its candidates by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
“That is the task that we have set ourselves,” Hontiveros added.
This early, Senator Robin Padilla floated an “all-girl” team up of Duterte and Senator Imee Marcos for the 2028 polls.
“Imee is my VP. I am pushing for Sara-Imee. It is time for Filipinos to feel girl power,” Padilla said.
Senator Marcos, for her part, expressed readiness to team up with Duterte.
“Sara is my forever running mate. Whether it is running, crawling, bending, standing up or sitting down, I will not leave her ever,” she added.
Duterte accused President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of corruption in her brief speech, saying he had failed to live up to his word during their short-lived alliance that saw them storm to a landslide victory in the 2022 presidential election.
The Palace shrugged off Duterte’s latest tirades, Presidential Communications Office Usec. Claire Castro said, adding that Mr. Marcos was aware of the Vice President’s announcement.
“All he said was ‘good luck.’ That’s all,” Castro said.
Castro called Duterte’s early declaration of candidacy for 2028 was a political move focused on the next election rather than on governance.
“A politician whose concern is the next election – the concern is for a personal interest, not the people,” she said.
He said the administration has not started talks yet on possible alliances for the 2028 polls amid Duterte’s presidential bid.
Michael Henry Yusingco, senior research fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center, said Duterte’s campaign announcement was a “big risk.”
“Conventional thinking would say she has the best chance of winning. Survey numbers are in her favor,” he said, while adding her father’s physical absence might discourage supporters.
Cleve Arguelles, president of Manila-based WR Numero Research, suggested Duterte’s public declaration could be more about keeping allies in line at a time of political uncertainty.
“By projecting an inevitable 2028 run, she raises the perceived cost of defection — reminding politicians in Congress that her faction could still return to power,” he said.
The announcement was aimed at drawing “a clear line among those who are with her or against her, given the ICC and the impeachment (cases),” said Jean Franco, political science professor at the University of the Philippines.
Members of the Makabayan bloc said Duterte’s early announcement was part of her “desperate attempt” to shield herself from accountability amid serious allegations of corruption, among other offenses.
The coalition of party-list lawmakers Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers), Renee Louise Co (Kabataan), and Sarah Jane Elago (Gabriela) accused Duterte of trying to control the political narrative in her favor, portraying herself as a victim of political persecution to evade charges of graft, misuse of confidential funds, and betrayal of public trust.
“Vice President Duterte’s premature declaration—more than two years before the 2028 elections—is not about serving the Filipino people. It is about framing the impeachment proceedings as purely political harassment rather than what they truly are: a constitutional process to hold an impeachable official accountable for grave offenses,” the lawmakers said.
“By announcing her presidential bid now, Vice President Duterte is attempting to weaponize her candidacy as a shield against accountability. She wants Filipinos to believe that any investigation into her conduct is simply an attack by political enemies trying to prevent her from becoming president.”
“She (Duterte) is trying to create a narrative where anyone supporting her impeachment is automatically an enemy of her presidential ambitions acting out of political malice rather than constitutional duty,” the group added.
Tinio also clapped back at the Vice President for claiming that the impeachment bids against her were just politicking.
“Who is the one playing politics here when, as early as 2026, she already announced that she will run for president? This shows that she has done nothing but engage in politics… The people should not let themselves get fooled again,” he added.
The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino, on the other hand, welcomed Duterte’s announcement.
“The PDP is fully supportive of the Vice President and shall henceforth place all of our resources at her disposal in her journey towards becoming the leader that our country can count on to undo the damage of years of misrule, corruption and abuse of power since June 2022,” PDP deputy spokesman Ferdinand Topacio said.
