Philippine President Duterte announces retirement from politics

Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday, he is backing out of an announced plan to run for vice president in next year’s elections and will retire from politics after his term ends.

Senator Christopher Bong Go, from Duterte’s PDP-Laban party, will be candidate for the vice presidency at a Commission on Elections center.

According to Duterte, “The decision not to run was in response to the public’s wishes.”

He took office in 2016 and launched a crackdown on illegal drugs that left more than 6,000 mostly petty suspects dead and alarmed Western governments and human rights groups. The International Criminal Court is investigating the killings.

Philippine presidents are limited by the constitution to a single six-year term and opponents had said they would question the legality of Duterte’s announced vice presidential run before the Supreme Court.

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Kamila/Reuters