MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte will not be going toe-to-toe with his daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio in a race for the vice-presidency in next year's election after all.
In yet another dizzying twist, the Philippines' 76-year-old leader is instead running for senator.
"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," Senator Christopher "Bong" Go, his long-time aide, told reporters.
His press secretary Martin Andanar said last Saturday (Nov 13) that Mr Duterte would file papers to register to run for vice-president at the poll commission's office in Manila on Monday.
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 herself running for vice-president but under the political party of former president Gloria Arroyo, not her father's.
She is being paired with former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr, 64, son and namesake of the late dictator, who is running under his own party.
In the Philippines, the president and vice-president are elected in separate contests.
Mr Duterte has refused to support Mr Marcos, whom he suggested on Sunday was a communist at heart.
"I never gave a commitment that I will support (the Marcoses)," he said.
He is instead backing Mr Go, who has been his personal assistant since 1998, as his candidate for president.
Mr Go, with Mr Duterte by his side at the poll commission's office, 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 the duo of Mr Marcos and Ms Duterte-Carpio.
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, Mr Duterte said he was disappointed by Ms Duterte-Carpio'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.
He said he suspects that the Marcoses hatched the plan that pushed his daughter to settle for "a lower position".
With Mr Duterte again abandoning a bid for the vice-presidency, his 43-year-old daughter is now expected to get the full support of her father's massive, fiercely loyal base of supporters.
That and Mr Marcos' equally solid core of voters could push her ahead of the candidate for vice-president currently leading in opinion polls.
Ms Duterte-Carpio is trailing Senate president Tito Sotto, who himself is a formidable candidate, owing to his past as a popular comic, and can rival the Dutertes' pull on voters.
"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 author and 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 and Mr Marcos had squared off in the race for the vice-presidency in 2016 and she won by a slim margin.
The Philippines will hold elections in May 2022 for positions from president down to governors, mayors and local officials. The next government faces the uphill task of reviving a pandemic-battered economy.
