“Unfinished business” might lead President Rodrigo Duterte to run for vice president in 2022, the Palace said Tuesday.
In a virtual press conference, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the unsolved drug problem and corruption in government are among the reasons that might convince Duterte to heed the call from some sectors for him to seek a national post after his presidency ends in 2022.
Duterte’s decision, Roque said, will depend on if there is a clamor for him to run, and on the presidential candidate he will support in next year’s elections.
“One problem that he sees is if he runs for vice president, he might have a strained relationship with the next President, making it hard for him to do his unfinished business,” Roque said in Filipino.
Duterte’s ruling party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, adopted a resolution urging him to join the 2022 vice presidential race and choose the party’s standard bearer in the 2022 national elections.
Duterte initially said on June 8 he is reluctant to run for vice president, as he is ready to retire and return to his hometown Davao City after his term ends in June next year.
On June 17, Duterte acknowledged that a “lot of people” are urging him to run for vice president but said his decision will depend on the decision of House Majority Leader and Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin Romualdez, who might also seek the second top post in the country.
Romualdez on Tuesday said the President “is very much qualified and capable to run for vice president,” saying he remained popular five years after his election as the 16th president of the country.
“I agree with him that he needs to continue his good platforms of government, including the fight against corruption, illegal drugs, and criminality,” Romualdez said.
He also said the President is the “strongest potential vice presidential candidate next year.”
“While I am keeping my options open, it is not a good decision to run against the President,” he said.
Romualdez had earlier said he would not run for vice president if Duterte would seek the same position.
Roque on Tuesday said the President had wanted his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio to run for president in 2022 but she declined.
Publicly, however, Duterte urged his daughter not to run for president, saying it was no job for a woman.
In a GMA News TV report, Duterte-Carpio clarified that the President had asked her not to run for national post, contradictory to Roque’s earlier remarks.
The mayor told GMA’s Ivan Mayrina in a 24 Oras report: “Baka iba ang sinasabi ni PRRD kay Sec. Roque. (Maybe the President is saying something else to Secretary Roque.)”
“My parents and I have talked about politics twice in the past month and they have been consistent in expressing their opinion for me not to run for national post,” Sara said.
She recalled her past conversations with her parents, adding that both are urging her not to seek presidential post in next year’s polls.
“PRRD said everyone and everything will destroy me if I run and maybe win for President. My mother said she will miss me if I leave Davao City,” Duterte-Carpio added.
Despite these statements, Roque said the President “said he wanted
Mayor Sara to run but Mayor Sara refused.”
Roque also suggested that Senator Manny Pacquiao may no longer be on the President’s list of possible presidential candidates, saying the senator “could not wait for [an] endorsement”
Duterte is constitutionally prohibited from seeking reelection. Also on Tuesday, Senator Christopher Go, the President’s constant companion, said he had no interest in seeking the presidency.
“I have given my statement on this. As I have reiterated numerous times, please count me out,” Go said.
PDP-Laban vice chairman Alfonso Cusi said if Duterte runs for vice president along with Go as the standard bearer, the team would get at least 90 percent support from the party.