The Philippines’s former President Rodrigo Duterte registered on 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 (ICC) is investigating as a possible crime against humanity.
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“I want to serve you,” 79-year-old Duterte, the father of Vice-President Sara Duterte, told reporters after submitting his candidacy documents in Davao City, where he had served as mayor for about two decades before winning the presidency in 2016.
His running mate will be his son and incumbent Davao mayor, Sebastian Duterte, and he said he planned to make Davao “better than yesterday”.
The former president’s decision to run is seen as a move to galvanise support for his daughter Sara, who is widely expected to run for president in 2028.
Davao is the family stronghold of Duterte, who as president launched a deadly drug war in 2016 that is the subject of local and international investigations.
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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.