Philippine election: Rodrigo Duterte for vice-president? ‘Good idea’, he says

Name: Philippine drug war: Filipino mothers join nighttime patrols to prevent drug killings
Uploaded: 2021-06-16T13:37:58.000Z
Duration: 2 min 8 s
Description: Philippine drug war: Filipino mothers join nighttime patrols to prevent drug killings

Duterte, who is barred by the constitution from seeking re-election, will end his six-year term in June 2022

But his party is encouraging him to run for office as vice-president – which he has called a ‘good idea’ as he has unfinished business, such as the war on drugs

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Photo: Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division via AP

Reuters

Published: 9:37pm, 16 Jun 2021

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said that a run for vice-president in next year’s elections was a “good idea” because he has unfinished business, including solving the country’s drug problem.

Duterte, who is barred by the constitution from seeking re-election, will end his six-year term in June 2022, but his party is encouraging him to run again for office, as vice-president.

“There are a lot of people pushing me to run for vice president. It is a good idea, particularly if we talk about the drug problem,” Duterte said in a speech. “I am scared for the next generation”.

His remarks came a day after a prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced that permission had been sought for a formal investigation into thousands of killings in a war on drugs waged by Duterte since 2016.

Presidential spokesperson, Harry Roque, said Duterte would not cooperate with the ICC because the Philippines had withdrawn its membership.

“We don’t need foreigners to investigate the killings in the drug war because the systems in the Philippines are working,” he said, citing the conviction of police officers involved in the killing of 17-year-old boy in 2017.

02:08

Philippine drug war: Filipino mothers join nighttime patrols to prevent drug killings

The ICC’s Rome Statute, however, gives it jurisdiction with crimes committed while a country was a member.