Duterte to run for VP next year

President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Tuesday night said he would run for vice-president next year.

“I will continue the crusade,” he said at a televised news briefing, referring to his campaign against illegal drugs, criminality and insurgency.

“I may not have the power to give the direction or guidance but i can always express my views in public for whatever it may be worth in the coming days,” he added.

In the Philippines, the President and vice-president are elected separately and may come from opposing political parties.

The vice-president usually becomes powerless unless the President gives him a key post in his Cabinet.

Some congressmen have said Mr. Duterte’s vice-presidential ambition is a desperate attempt to stay in power amid possible prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for human rights violations in his war on drugs.

Legal experts earlier said Mr. Duterte could not run away from potential lawsuits since a vice-president is not immune from suits. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza