GOOD RIDDANCE

Philippines: Rodrigo Duterte withdraws from 2022 Senate race


© Provided by Al Jazeera

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has withdrawn his candidacy for a Senate seat, according to a spokesman for the country’s election commission.

In a post on Twitter on Tuesday, James Jimenez said: “The president has filed his withdrawal from the senatorial elections.”

Duterte, 76, is constitutionally barred from seeking a second six-year term as president.

His current term will end in June 2022. And his run for the Senate had been seen as an attempt to remain in politics while facing an international probe into his deadly so-called “war on drugs”.

It was not immediately clear why Duterte was dropping out of the senatorial race, but he had said in October he was retiring from politics.

There was no immediate comment from his political party.

In a late-night address on Monday, Duterte said his administration will “ensure an honest, peaceful, credible, and free elections” in 2022.

Duterte’s daughter Sara is running for vice president while his son Sebastian is contesting the mayoral race in the family’s southern stronghold of Davao City.