Duterte’s daughter Sara to run for Philippine vice president in elections next year

Sara Duterte backed out this week from her reelection bid as mayor of Davao city then took the place of a largely unknown vice-presidential candidate of her political party.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter on Saturday registered her candidacy for vice president in next year’s elections and was chosen as the running mate of Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the late dictator’s son, in an alliance that has alarmed human rights activists.

Sara Duterte backed out this week from her reelection bid as mayor of southern Davao city then took the place of a largely unknown vice-presidential candidate of her political party, Lakas CMD, in a maneuver that allowed her to seek the second-highest post even after a deadline lapsed for candidates in the May 9 elections.

Marcos Jr. filed his papers at the Commission on Elections last month. His party, Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, named Sara Duterte on Saturday as his running mate.

In a chaotic turn of events that bolstered speculations of a discord between the president and his daughter, the elder Duterte suddenly trooped to the elections commission Saturday to accompany his former aide, Sen. Bong Go, who shifted his vice-presidential candidacy to a presidential run. Duterte may even reconsider his earlier plan, which he has dropped, to run for vice president, said Communications Secretary Martin Andanar. Such a race would pit the president, who is constitutionally limited to a single six-year term, against his daughter.

Philippine presidents and vice presidents are elected separately and could forge an alliance even if they run under different political parties. If they’re elected from rival camps, they often end up in a hostile relationship.

Ferdinand Marcos, who was toppled in a 1986 “people power” pro-democracy uprising and died in U.S. exile three years later, and the current president both have been criticized for gross human rights abuses.

Marcos had placed the Philippines under martial law in 1972 in an era that was marked by widespread atrocities and economic plunder. Duterte has been condemned by Western governments and human rights groups for a brutal anti-drugs crackdown that has left more than 6,000 mostly poor suspects dead in large-scale killings that are being investigated by the International Criminal Court.

“The Marcos-Duterte tandem is the biggest threat to the democratic aspirations of the people,” said Renato Reyes of Bayan, a prominent left-wing coalition. “It has the most self-serving aims: a Marcos restoration and the protection of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte.”