Palace: Duterte’s 2022 plans still up in the air

There is no telling if President Rodrigo Duterte is decided to retire from politics or considering a vice presidential run in 2022, Malacañang said Thursday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque made the statement a day after the President said being a vice president can be a good idea to finish what he started but at the same time likened the second highest elected post to a flower waiting for the President to wilt.

“You can conclude either way,” Roque said during the Palace briefing.

“We cannot definitely say if he will or he will not run and that is his right because he has until October to decide,” he added.

The Commission on Elections already set the filing of candidacy from October 1 to 8 this year.

Ruling party PDP-Laban, chaired by Duterte, has nominated the chief executive as the party’s 2022 vice presidential bet.

The President, however, said on Wednesday that he already promised that he will support House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez’s vice presidential bid in May 2022 polls.

This move, Duterte said, made Romualdez pull out of the speakership race in 2019 which was eventually settled with Taguig Representative Alan Peter Cayetano sitting as House Speaker for the first 15 months and Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco taking over in October 2020.—AOL, GMA News