Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte announces 2028 presidential run

MANILA – Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte announced on Feb 18 that she will run for president of the South-east Asian nation of 116 million in 2028.

Ms Duterte, who is embroiled in a bitter feud with President Ferdinand Marcos, was impeached in 2025 only to see the country’s Supreme Court throw the case out over procedural issues.

Her announcement comes just days before her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, begins a pre-trial hearing at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands over crimes against humanity allegedly committed as part of brutal crackdowns on drugs.

“I offer my life, my strength, and my future in the service of our nation,” the 47-year-old Vice-President said at a Feb 18 press briefing where she assailed Mr Marcos’ record.

“I am Sara Duterte. I will run for president of the Philippines.”

Ms Duterte accused Mr Marcos of corruption in her brief speech, saying he had failed to live up to his word during the short-lived alliance that saw them storm to a landslide victory in the 2022 presidential election.

“In the first few months of our terms, I already saw Bongbong Marcos Jr’s lack of sincerity regarding the promises made during the campaign, as well as his sworn duty to the nation,” the Vice-President said, using Mr Marcos’ nickname.

Drawing a line

Mr Michael Henry Yusingco, senior research fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center, told AFP the campaign announcement was a “big risk” but that her solid base of support in family stronghold Mindanao gave her a real advantage.

“Conventional thinking would say she has the best chance of winning. Survey numbers are in her favour,” he said, while adding her father’s physical absence could discourage supporters.

Mr Cleve Arguelles, president of Manila-based WR Numero Research, suggested that Ms Duterte’s public declaration could be more about keeping allies in line at a time of political uncertainty.

“By projecting an inevitable 2028 run, she raises the perceived cost of defection – reminding politicians in Congress that her faction could still return to power,” he said.

The announcement was aimed at drawing “a clear line among those who are with her or against her, given the ICC and the impeachment (cases)”, said political science Professor Jean Franco at the University of the Philippines.

Philippine presidents are limited to a single six-year term, which eliminates Mr Marcos from the field.

‘Impeachment push’

Mr Yusingco added that the Marcos administration was now likely to become more openly hostile.

“Behind the scenes, they’ll probably push for her impeachment,” he said.

Ms Duterte has seen the impeachment bid against her revived in recent weeks, with members of the Philippine clergy filing a case against her on Feb 9, one of three within days.

Under the Philippine Constitution, an impeachment triggers a Senate trial. A guilty verdict would see Ms Duterte barred from politics and sidelined from the presidential race.

A pair of impeachment complaints against Mr Marcos, meanwhile, were recently tossed out by the House of Representatives justice committee, which said they lacked the necessary substance.

But Mr Marcos is facing his own headwinds, with the archipelago nation still roiling over a scandal involving bogus flood-control projects believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

The President has seen friend and foe alike, including a congressman cousin, swept up in the political firestorm since he first put the issue centre stage in a July national address.

On Feb 18, Mr Marcos’ spokeswoman Claire Castro told reporters that Ms Duterte should apologise for the “corruption and misuse of funds” cited in the impeachment complaints against her before attacking the President’s record.

Mr Marcos, she added, had said only “good luck” in response to the news of Ms Duterte’s candidacy.

Mr Marcos and Ms Duterte have been engaged in a high-stakes political brawl that erupted within weeks of their 2022 win in the presidential election, when the Vice-President was denied favoured Cabinet portfolios in favour of the education secretary post.

The impeachment complaints filed against her cite an alleged threat against President Marcos made during a late-night press briefing that bore shades of her father’s famously scathing verbal style.

She would later say her comments were misinterpreted. AFP