The Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) will adopt President Rodrigo Duterte in its senatorial slate for the 2022 national elections.
"With President Duterte’s filing of candidacy for senator in the 2022 election, it will be my honor, as Lakas-CMD president, to nominate his name for inclusion in the list of senatorial candidates to be adopted by the party," said House Majority Leader Martin G. Romualdez on Tuesday.
Romualdez recalled that Lakas-CMD is one of the major political parties that helped elect Duterte to the presidency in 2016.
"Congressmen who are members or affiliated with Lakas-CMD form part of the supermajority coalition in the House of Representatives, which made possible the passage of vital measures included in the President’s legislative agenda," he said.
Romualdez said the national executive committee of the party is formalizing the list of 12 senatorial candidates that will be supported by the party in 2022.
On Monday, Duterte, of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) ended speculation that he would run for vice president against his own daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Melchor Jaemond Aranas, the Chief Executive’s representative, filed the certificate of candidacy on behalf of Duterte at the Commission on Elections main office in Intramuros, Manila.
Duterte replaced Mona Liza Visorde under the Partido Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan (PDDS), PDP-Laban Secretary General Melvin Matibag said.
Duterte is not eligible to run for president again, but he can run for other posts.
Duterte joined the PDDS party to avoid legal complications in his 2022 bid as a result of infighting in the ruling PDP-Laban, acting Palace spokesperson Karlo Nograles said. (See full story online at manilastandard.net)
At the same time, Nograles said Duterte’s decision to run for the Senate has nothing to do with the impending International Criminal Court’s (ICC) investigation over alleged human rights violations committed under his administration’s bloody war against illegal drugs.
Nograles said the President simply wanted to continue his programs and serve the Filipino people.
"His Senate bid has nothing to do with the ICC case,” Nograles said at a press briefing.
He added there was no need to evade prosecution because all the accusations were not true.
Duterte, 76, had previously said he would run for the country's second-highest office, before changing his mind and announcing plans last month to retire from politics — which was met with deep skepticism among analysts.
Duterte made a similar declaration in Sept. 2015, saying he "will retire from public life for good", only to announce a presidential bid two months later.
University of the Philippines political science professor Jean Franco said Duterte was running for the Senate because he was "scared of the lawsuits and the ICC.”
ICC judges authorized a full-blown investigation into Duterte's anti-narcotics campaign in September, saying it resembled an illegitimate and systematic attack on civilians. Rights groups estimate the drug war has killed tens of thousands of people.
As a senator, Duterte would be shielded from arrest for crimes carrying a jail sentence of "not more than six years" while the Congress was in session, Franco said, citing the Constitution.
She added that Duterte also wanted to have bargaining power in the next administration.
Carlos Conde, Human Rights Watch senior researcher for the Philippines, said Duterte was "clearly scared" and "wants to cover all the bases" to ensure he would be protected from prosecution.
"Even with his daughter running for vice president and his trusted aide Bong Go running for president – those are apparently not enough assurance that he can attain his objective after his term ends," Conde said.
Sara Duterte had been widely expected to seek the presidency in a bid to succeed her father, and potentially protect him from criminal charges in the Philippines and from the ICC investigators.
But on Saturday she filed for the vice presidential race and that appeared unchanged by Monday.
Her tilt for the second-highest office was immediately endorsed by the party of presidential front runner Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to be his running mate in the poll.
Sara's decision to run for vice president leaves Marcos in a strong position in the presidential race.
The elder Duterte has been an ally of the Marcos family.
Twelve Senate seats will be up for grabs on May 9 when the election is due to be held.
Duterte is not the first president in the Philippines to seek to stay in politics, said Mark Thompson, director of the Southeast Asia Research Centre at the City University of Hong Kong.
"Given the one-term limit (as president) it's an opportunity to be in the national spotlight," he added.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana dismissed claims made by a retired Army officer that Senator Christopher "Bong" Go was controlling the decisions made by President Duterte.
In a statement Monday, Lorenzana labeled as "baseless" former Army officer and NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr.'s statement, saying Duterte "has always been his own man."
"The President stands by his own decisions, has always been firm in his directives to us, who are working for him, and is not as easily swayed or influenced by others as purported by the general," Lorenzana said.
Parlade was among the last-minute filers last Nov. 15 for president, running under the Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino party.
Shortly after filing his candidacy, Parlade took a swipe at his fellow presidential candidate Go by saying, "I'm sorry but he is among those included in our nation's problems."
He said he decided against aligning with Go because he did not like the way the senator does things.