Duterte avoids clash with daughter, to run for senator

President Rodrigo Duterte will not be going toe-to-toe after all with his daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio in a race for the vice-presidency in next year's election.

In yet another dizzying twist, the Philippines' 76-year-old leader is instead running for senator.

His aide, senator Christopher "Bong" Go, told reporters yesterday: "I don't want him to run for vice-president. I want to avoid a family feud… I have high respect for the president and his family."

Mr Duterte's press secretary Martin Andanar had said last Saturday that the president would register as a candidate for the vice-presidency at the poll commission's office in Manila yesterday.

But Mr Duterte did not show up as the 5pm deadline allowing the last-minute replacement of candidates came and went. He instead registered to run for senator via a representative.

That averted what would have been a showdown between him and Ms Duterte-Carpio, who is running for vice-president under the political party of former president Gloria Arroyo, not her father's.

She is being paired with former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr, 64, the son and namesake of the late dictator, who is running under his own party.

The president and vice-president are elected in separate contests in the Philippines.

Mr Duterte has refused to support Mr Marcos, whom he suggested was a communist at heart.

"I never gave a commitment that I will support (the Marcoses)," he said on Sunday.

He is instead backing Mr Go, who has been his personal assistant since 1998, as his candidate for president. Mr Go withdrew his candidacy for vice-president last Saturday and then registered to run for president.

It was heavily suggested then that Mr Duterte would be his running mate, challenging Mr Marcos and Ms Duterte-Carpio, 43.

Mr Duterte is not eligible to run for president again, as the Constitution limits the president to a single six-year term.

In an interview with a blogger on Sunday, he said he was disappointed by his daughter's decision to play second fiddle to Mr Marcos when she had been consistently topping opinion polls on who voters prefer to be the next president.

With Mr Duterte again abandoning a bid for the vice-presidency, his daughter is now expected to get the full support of his massive, fiercely loyal base of supporters. That and Mr Marcos' equally solid core of voters could push her ahead of the leading candidate for vice-president in opinion polls.

She is trailing Senate president Tito Sotto, who was once a popular comic.

"If you're in the Marcos camp, you feel pretty okay… But also keep in mind that the momentum is also shifting in favour of (Vice-President) Leni Robredo," said political analyst Richard Heydarian.

Ms Robredo is also running for president.

Mr Heydarian said the race for president "is increasingly becoming Leni versus Marcos, with the Dutertes in a secondary position".

Ms Robredo edged out Mr Marcos when they squared off for the vice-presidency in 2016.