VICE-PRESIDENT Sara Duterte has (pic) announced that she will run for president of the nation of 116 million in 2028.
Duterte, who is embroiled in a bitter feud with President Ferdinand Marcos, was impeached last year only to see the country’s Supreme Court throw the case out over procedural issues.
Her announcement comes just days before her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, begins a pre-trial hearing at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands 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 at a press briefing yesterday, where she assailed Marcos’ record.
“I am Sara Duterte. I will run for president of the Philippines.”
Duterte accused Marcos of corruption in her brief speech, saying he had failed to live up to his word during the short-lived alliance that saw them storm to a landslide victory in the 2022 presidential election.
“In the first few months of our terms, I already saw Bongbong Marcos Jr’s lack of sincerity regarding the promises made during the campaign, as well as his sworn duty to the nation,” she said, using Marcos’ nickname.
Michael Henry Yusingco, senior research fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center, said the campaign announcement was a “big risk”, but that Duterte’s solid base of support in the family stronghold Mindanao gave her a real advantage.
Cleve Arguelles, president of Manila-based WR Numero Research, suggested that 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.
Philippine presidents are limited to a single six-year term, which eliminates Marcos from the field.
Yusingco said the Marcos administration is now likely to become more openly hostile, adding: “Behind the scenes, they’ll probably push for her impeachment.”
Duterte has seen the impeachment bid against her revived in recent weeks, with members of the Philippine clergy filing a case against her on Feb 9, one of three logged within days.
Under the Philippine constitution, an impeachment triggers a Senate trial. A guilty verdict would result in Duterte being barred from politics and sidelined from the presidential race.
A pair of impeachment complaints against Marcos, meanwhile, were recently tossed out by the House of Representatives justice committee, which said they lacked the necessary substance.
But Marcos is facing his own headwinds, with the archipelago nation roiling over a scandal involving bogus flood-control projects believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars.
Yesterday, Marcos spokesperson Claire Castro told reporters Duterte should apologise for the “corruption and misuse of funds” cited in the impeachment complaints against her before attacking the president’s record.
Marcos, she added, had said only “good luck” in response to the news of Duterte’s candidacy. — AFP
