President Duterte will walk away from politics after June 30, 2022 after all.
Malacañang, through Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, confirmed on Tuesday night, Dec. 14 that President Duterte has backed out from the Senate race in the upcoming May elections.
In a statement, Nograles said Duterte filed his statement of withdrawal at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that same afternoon. Photos from Malacañang showed that Duterte was accompanied by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.
"After over four decades in public service, the President plans to retire from government to spend more time with his family when his term ends in June 2022," Nograles said.
The Palace official's remark is a full 360-degree turn from Duterte's pronouncements earlier this year, particularly during the lead up to the filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) last October.
The Chief Executive initially said that he would "retire" from politics at the end of his tenure as the country’s top official on June 30, 2022. But then, Duterte's political party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), seemingly convinced him to run for vice president even as he waited for his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio to file her COC for the presidency.
Come filing day, it was Senator Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go who filed a bid for the vice presidency, while the elder Duterte again insisted that he would retire when his term ends.
On Nov. 15, political pundits were swerved again after Duterte filed a COC for senator in the May 2022 polls via the substitution rule. Duterte-Carpio, on the other hand, will be vying for the vice presidency.
"The President believes that withdrawing from the Senate race will allow him to better focus on managing our pandemic response in order to sustain the progress we have made in the country and in safely reopening the economy," Nograles said of Duterte's latest move.
"He likewise views this as an opportunity to concentrate on efforts to ensure transparent, impartial, orderly and peaceful elections in May," the Cabinet Secretary said.
The Duterte patriarch, 76, may still theoretically stage a political comeback in 2025.