Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is one of the most popular presidents in the world, despite – or perhaps partly because of – his history of biased comments about women, gays and minority groups.
Driving the news: Polls show that his daughter and successor as Davao City mayor Sara Duterte is voters’ first choice to succeed him as president in 2022. But he said on Thursday that Sara would not participate.
- The presidency, he said, is “not for women,” as they have a different “emotional set-up” than men.
- Duterte, who regularly complains about the misery of his job, added that his daughter “would go through what I went through.”
What to watch: Duterte will not be eligible for re-election at the end of his six-year term, although an attempt by his allies to amend the constitution sparked speculation he might try to enforce.
- “Even if you serve it to me on a silver platter or give me 10 years for free, I’m done,” he said Thursday.
Meanwhile, Duterte is confronted a Senate investigation into reports that doses of an unapproved Chinese vaccine have been smuggled into the Philippines and given to more than 100,000 Chinese nationals, as well as some of the soldiers assigned to guard Duterte.
- Duterte told soldiers not to cooperate with the investigation, and his agency described the vaccines as a “gift” from China.
- Worth nothing: Many of the affected Chinese citizens work in offshore gambling. Last year, several illegal medical clinics were discovered in the Philippines targeting Chinese nationals working in offshore gambling.
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