The President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, is one of the most popular presidents in the world, despite – or perhaps partly because of – his biased story about women, homosexuals and minority groups.
News management: Polls suggest that his daughter and Davao mayor Sara Duterte is the best choice for the electorate to succeed him as president in 2022. But he said on Thursday that Sara would not run.
- The presidency, he said, is not “for women” because they have a different “emotional configuration” than men.
- Duterte, who frequently complains about the misery of his job, added that his daughter will “go through what I went through.”
What to look for: Duterte is not eligible to run for re-election at the end of his six-year term, although an attempt by his allies to amend the constitution has raised speculation that he might try to stay around.
- “Even if you serve it to me on a silver platter or give me another 10 years for free, I’m done,” he said on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Duterte is confronted a Senate investigation reported that doses of an unapproved Chinese vaccine were smuggled into the Philippines and given to more than 100,000 Chinese citizens, as well as some of the soldiers tasked with guarding Duterte.
- Duterte told the soldiers not to cooperate with the investigation, and his office described the vaccines as a “gift” from China.
- Not worth anything: Many of the Chinese citizens in question work in offshore gambling. Several illegal medical clinics serving Chinese citizens working in offshore gambling were discovered in the Philippines last year.
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