Sara Duterte insists she won’t run for Philippines presidency but that hasn’t dimmed her support

Like her father, Sara Duterte trained as a lawyer before joining politics. In 2010, she became mayor of Davao, a city of more than 1.6 million people

Polls suggest she would beat potential candidates such as boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao and the namesake son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, Sara. Photo: TNS

Published: 9:47am, 16 Apr 2021Updated: 9:57am, 16 Apr 2021

The daughter of Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte says there’s no chance she’ll run for the presidency next year. Her father says the presidency is no job for a woman.

But few are convinced by either of them as campaigns grow to back Sara Duterte-Carpio, 42, to succeed the autocratic and capricious president whose war on drugs killed thousands and whose embrace of China has convulsed historic ties with the US.

“It is the clamour of the people that will make her run,” said Mar Masanguid, who led the movement behind the hugely popular 76-year-old Duterte’s last-minute presidential bid in 2016 and has now founded a group to back Sara Duterte.

Sara Duterte’s image is as down-to-earth as that of her father in a country where tough plays well: she once punched a court official who challenged her; she rides big motorbikes; her children are nicknamed Sharkie, Stingray and Stonefish.

Opinion polls show her far ahead of other potential candidates for the 2022 election when Duterte must step down after one six-year term.

But Sara Duterte said she had thought carefully and decided not to try to extend the political dynasty to the presidency after succeeding her father as mayor of the southern city of Davao.

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