Philippine Vice President, Sara Duterte has announced that she intends to run for President in the upcoming 2028 election,
She made the announcement in a televised speech where she renewed allegations of corruption and misrule against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. They were running mates in a whirlwind alliance in the 2022 election but have since had a bitter falling out.
Sara Duterte accused Marcos of reneging on his campaign promises and of misrule. She repeatedly asked for public forgiveness for problems such as government corruption, law-and-order issues and inflation.
“It took me 47 years to understand that my life was never meant to be only mine.
“For a long time, I questioned the weight of responsibility to my family, to my country, to everyone who called on me. I am Sara Duterte, and I am running for President in the Philippines.”
Sara Duterte
Duterte said that politicians often avoid announcing their plans early so they wouldn’t be the target of attacks “but this administration has long destroyed my name.”
Duterte also asked her followers for their “forgiveness” over her previous support for incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos Jr during the last presidential election.
She stated that The Philippines continues to struggle with rampant problems, from corruption to poverty and a cost-of-living crisis. “I cannot kneel before each and every Filipino to beg for forgiveness. Instead, I offer my life, my strength, and my future in the service of our nation,” she added.
The bid for presidency follows in the footsteps of her notorious father, ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.
She and her family have blamed Marcos for the detention of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who faces a potential trial for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, which ordered his arrest and detention in the Netherlands last year over his deadly anti-drugs crackdown.
Despite throwing her support behind Marcos’s election bid five years ago, Duterte and the President have since become bitter rivals, particularly following the launch of a corruption inquiry in 2024 into Duterte’s misuse of government funds.
Their relationship then soured further last year when Marcos signed off on the arrest of her father by the Philippine National Police and Interpol, acting on behalf of the ICC.
Duterte’s bid that would have to withstand new impeachment attempts in Congress and criminal complaints that could ban her from public office if convicted.
She is facing multiple impeachment complaints in the House of Representatives for alleged corruption and making a death threat against President Marcos.
The impeachment complaints filed this month centered on her alleged illegal use and mishandling of $10.3 million in confidential funds from the vice president’s office and from her time as Education Secretary under Marcos.
Another complaint accused her of having unexplained wealth, including in personal bank accounts. An anti-graft prosecutor has said his agency was trying to gain access to those accounts as part of a separate criminal investigation.
The Vice President’s threat during an online news conference in 2024 to have the president, his wife and House of Representatives speaker killed if she herself was assassinated was cited in one of the impeachment complaints.
During the House’s original investigation into the allegations, Duterte refused to respond in detail to questions and skipped some of the televised hearings.
Most of the allegations against Duterte had been included in an impeachment complaint she survived on a technicality last year.
The House of Representatives had voted to impeach her and sent the case to the Senate for trial. The Supreme Court, however, later ruled that the lower chamber violated a constitutional rule that only one impeachment case could be processed by it in a single year against an impeachable official.
Duterte Told To Apologize
A presidential spokesperson, Claire Castro, said that Duterte should apologize to the public for the many irregularities and corruption allegations she’s facing along with her frequent personal trips abroad.
“She should ask forgiveness for focusing on destroying reputations of other people instead of doing her work and helping the government.”
Claire Castro
The Vice President’s lawyer, Michael Poa, has said Duterte was prepared to confront these allegations and was confident “that a fair and impartial review will demonstrate that the accusations are devoid of both factual and legal basis.”
