Duterte rival weighs top office bid

Philippine Vice-President Leni Robredo will decide this week if she will run for president, her spokesman said yesterday, after her arch-rival and incumbent Rodrigo Duterte declared he was retiring from politics.

Robredo, a vocal critic of Duterte’s controversial drug war, would likely be the only opposition candidate in a crowded field in the May 2022 elections.

Her spokesperson Barry Gutierrez said she has not yet accepted the opposition coalition’s nomination, and will announce her decision before the filing deadline on October 8.

Duterte, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a second term, had declared in August he would run for the vice presidency.

But in a surprise announcement on Saturday, he said he would retire which was met with deep scepticism among analysts.