Ex-Philippine President Duterte to run as mayor despite his drug killings legacy

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines's former President Rodrigo Duterte registered Monday to run for mayor of his southern home city despite his notorious legacy over his brutal anti-drugs crackdown that the International Criminal Court is investigating as a possible crime against humanity.

Duterte, 79, filed his papers before the Election Commission in Davao city, where he had served as mayor for about two decades before winning the presidency in 2016. His son — incumbent Davao city Mayor Sebastian Duterte — would run as his vice-mayor in next year’s mid-term elections, officials said.

More than 6,000 people, mostly poor drug suspects, were killed under a massive police-enforced crackdown against illegal drugs that Duterte oversaw when he was president, according to government pronouncements. But human rights groups say the death toll is considerably higher and should include many unsolved killings by motorcycle-riding gunmen, who may have been deployed by police.

Duterte has denied condoning extrajudicial killings of drug suspects, although he has openly threatened suspects with death and has ordered police to shoot suspects who dangerously resist arrest.

Despite his administration’s massive crackdown against illegal drugs, Duterte acknowledged that drugs remained a major problem. During his presidential campaign, he vowed to eradicate the drug problem in three to six months but said after winning the presidency that he underestimated the enormity of the problem.

Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2019, in a move critics said was an attempt to evade accountability. The ICC prosecutor said the court still has jurisdiction over alleged crimes, while the Philippines was still a member of the court.

When Duterte’s turbulent presidential term ended in 2022, he said he would retire from politics, but he has walked back on his public pronouncements multiple times.

His daughter, current Vice President Sara Duterte, said in June that her father and two brothers were planning to run for seats in the 24-member Senate. But the former president told reporters in Davao city on Saturday that his frail health could not withstand the rigors of a campaign for any national position.

Duterte has remained popular after stepping down from the presidency, but human rights groups and his political opponents would likely campaign hard to block his return to politics. He and his family have also been at odds with his successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whom he has publicly reviled as a weak leader and a drug addict.

Marcos has laughed off Duterte’s allegations and shot back at Duterte as a user of fentanyl, a powerful opioid.

Sara Duterte resigned from her posts of education secretary and head of an anti-insurgency body under the Marcos administration in July. It was the latest sign her alliance with Marcos has floundered over key differences, including the Marcos administration’s high-profile pushback against China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea.

Marcos has strengthened his country’s treaty alliance with the U.S. as his country’s territorial disputes with China flared alarmingly since last year.

During his presidency, Duterte nurtured cozy ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin while lambasting the security policies of the United States and other Western governments.