There has been a lot of talk about the future plans of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte as his six-year term will end next year and he cannot stand for office again, as per the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Earlier on Tuesday, his party PDP Laban Party said that he had accepted their endorsement to run for Vice President and later on Tuesday the President himself confirmed that he would run for the post.

In comments broadcast on Wednesday, Duterte said that he would run for the post of Vice President to “continue the crusade.” He said that he was worried about the drugs insurgency, followed by criminality and drugs.

However, there is still some confusion about who will run for President alongside him. PDP Laban party mentioned that Senator Christopher “Bong”Go would run alongside him as President. They have worked together since the late nineties.

Many experts have touted that he could run alongside with his daughter Sara Duterte. However, on Wednesday she added to the confusion by posting on Facebook that her father had told her that he would be running with Senator “Bong” Go and asked them to publicly announce the decision.

According to AP, in June, the International Criminal Court’s   (ICC)’s outgoing chief prosecutor Heydarian had said that the court had reason to believe that crimes against humanity had been commented during the drug   crackdown by the administration and Duterte who positions himself as a tough anti-drug advocate. He would look to remain in power or have his close allies in power in order to deflect a possible prosecution by the ICC.

President Rodrigo Duterte is still a popular president in the island nation. However, he had faced public ire after the outbreak of the delta variant in Philippines. Official data puts the number of COVID-19 cases at 1.86 million and deaths at almost 32,000. About 20 percent of the cases have been detected in the past six weeks. This might dent his popularity.

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