Philippines
Is Duterte really going to retire?
Analysis
Teodoro Alcuitas
Editor, PhilipineCanadianNews.Com (PCN.Com)
In an announcement typical of his bravado, President Rodrigo Duterte announced yesterday (Oct. 2 in the Philippines) that he will not run for vice president in next May’s elections.
While he is not running for vice-president, his long-time aide, Senator Bong Go filed his own candidacy for vice-president at the deadline for filing candidacies at the Commission on Elections.
The announcement is predicted to be ‘political theatre’ by observers, even as his daughter and heir apparent, Davao Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, is set to run to succeed him.
“The overwhelming … sentiment of the Filipinos is that I am not qualified and it would be a violation of the constitution to circumvent the law, the spirit of the constitution” to run for the vice presidency, Duterte said. “Today I announce my retirement from politics.
Philippine presidents are limited by the constitution to a single six-year term and opponents had said they would question the legality of Duterte’s announced vice presidential run before the Supreme Court.
Duterte is facing a host of problems nearing the end of his six-year term, not the least of whom is the impending investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into his alleged human rights violations.
“This is very much President Rodrigo Duterte’s political style keeping everybody on their toes, making sure that everybody hangs on to his word. But he’s also had the reputation of being a leader who does not keep his word,” said Al Jazeera’s Jamela Alindogan.
“During the 2016 election campaign, he repeatedly said that he would not run for public office. He did not show up at the filing of candidacy only to be filed a month later by somebody who stood in for him.”
After taking office on June 30, 2016, he immediately launched his deadly campaign described by the country’s Catholic leaders as a “reign of terror”.
In December 2016, Al Jazeera reported more than 6,000 deaths in the drugs war, raising questions about the inconsistency of the government’s record-keeping system and the possible “manipulation” of government data.
Human rights groups say the number of deaths could be between 27,000 and 30,000. They accuse the authorities of carrying out summary executions that killed innocent suspects, including children.