From president to vice president.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will run for vice president next year, officials of the ruling party said Tuesday, after Duterte accepted his party's nomination for the country's second-highest post.
PDP-Laban said the incumbent president accepted the endorsement after being presented with "popular calls" of the ruling party's councils for a "transition of government" that will ensure the continuity of the administration's programs," according to Philippine Inquirer News.
In a statement, Karlo Nograles, executive vice president of the PDP-Laban Party, said Duterte is making "the sacrifice" and heeding "the clamor of the people," Reuters reported.
Alfonso Cusi, the ruling party's president, said in a separate message that Duterte confirmed he's taking another shot at the vice presidency in 2022. Cusi added that Duterte made the decision "last night."
In livestream press briefing Tuesday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said he couldn't confirm if the president has accepted PDP's nominaiton for Duterte to run for vice president next year.
Cusi's faction had endorsed Sen. Christopher Lawrence Go and Duterte for president and vice president in the 2022 elections. But Go, the ruling party auditor, has yet to make public his decision.
Duterte has floated multiple times that he will run for vice president, saying he's "somewhat sold" on the idea, The Manila Times said.
Duterte has on a number of times said he wanted Go to be his successor. His nomination in 2019 helped Go to become a senator, a position he fulfills alongside his responsibility as the president's closest personal aide.
A successful bid will allow Duterte to remain in power through the nation's second-highest office. Under the Philippine Constitution, the president can only serve in one six-year term.
Duterte's detractors believe the 76-year old commander in chief could be making a play for retaining power through the vice president post, by taking over as president of the country in the event Go is elected to the highest post, and then quits.
Meanwhile, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, the president's daughter, is also considered a prospective presidential candidate. The presidential daughter, however, belongs to a different political party, the Hugpong ng Pagbabago.
