Duterte’s daughter to run for Philippines vice president

The daughter of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday filed her candidacy for vice president, ending speculation about her 2022 election plans.

Sara Duterte-Carpio, 43, who is the president’s eldest daughter, did not file her bid for presidency like other candidates in October and instead stood for reelection as the mayor of Davao City.

Her decision to join the presidential race came ahead of the Nov. 15 deadline for candidates to make a late entry into the May 2022 polls.

Legal representative Attorney Reynold Munsayac submitted Duterte’s certificate of candidacy to the Commission on Elections. She will be running from the platform of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats party of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, whose Lyle Uy withdrew his candidacy and named the Philippine leader’s daughter as his substitute.

“This is to confirm that Mayor Inday Sara Duterte, through her representative, has filed her Certificate of Candidacy for Vice President under Lakas-CMD,” Duterte’s spokesperson Christina Garcia Frasco said in a Facebook post.

She was immediately endorsed by Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, the party of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the former Philippine dictator, to be his running mate in the poll.

“Partido Federal ng Pilipinas announced on Saturday that it had adopted Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio as its vice presidential candidate and endorsed her as the running mate of party standard-bearer Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. in the upcoming 2022 elections,” the party said in a media statement.

In the Philippines, the president and vice president are elected separately, but it is common for candidates to join forces as de facto running mates.

“Knowing her father, I don’t know if he would agree to his daughter running for vice president,” Ramon Casiple, political analyst and executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, told Arab News. “He really wanted his daughter to run for president.”

She had been widely expected to run for president and to succeed her father who, under the Philippine constitution, cannot seek a second six-year term.

But Casiple said anything could still happen as Marcos may face disqualification petitions over his conviction in an income tax case in 1995.

“Substitution due to death or disqualification is allowed even on the day of the elections,” he added. “It would be easier if the substitute will be the party’s vice presidential candidate.”

Political analyst Dindo Manhit said in a TV interview that petitions to block Marcos may affect his presidential bid.

“At the end of the day it will depend on Comelec (Commission on Elections),” Mahit said.

Apart from Marcos, other presidential hopefuls in next year’s polls include former boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, Vice President Leni Robredo, Manila Mayor Francisco Domagoso, and Senator Panfilo Lacson.

Duterte’s former police chief Ronald dela Rosa withdrew his presidential bid on Saturday, together with another long-time Duterte aide Senator Christopher Lawrence Go, who sought the vice president role.

As Go subsequently substituted dela Rosa as presidential candidate, Duterte himself might seek a bid as vice president.

The deadline for substitutions expires on Monday.