PHILIPPINES’ DUTERTE WITHDRAWS CANDIDACY FOR A SENATE SEAT

Tue 14 December 2021:

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday withdrew his candidacy for the 2022 Senate race, the government elections monitor said, a month after he made a last-minute entry into the contest.

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.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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