Philippines' Duterte says he will quit politics

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he will not stand for vice president in next year's election, and will instead retire from politics.

Mr Duterte said last month that he would run for the vice presidency in 2022. The country's constitution bars him from a second term as president.

But he now says he will withdraw, as "the overwhelming sentiment of the Filipinos is that I am not qualified".

The move comes amid speculation that his daughter could run for president.

Sara Duterte-Carpio, who is currently mayor of the southern city of Davao, has given mixed messages about running.

Last month she said that she would not join the race, because she and her father had agreed that only one of them would run for national office in next year's election.

However, she has led every opinion poll conducted this year.

Mr Duterte made the announcement at the venue in Manila where he was expected to register his candidacy.

He said that standing for the vice presidency "would be a violation of the constitution to circumvent the law, the spirit of the constitution".

When Mr Duterte first announced his intention to run, there was widespread speculation that he would seek a politically weak running mate in order to rule from the number two role.

He had also publicly mused that as vice president, he would be immune from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for presiding over a brutal "war on drugs" that has killed thousands in the country.

However, it was unclear whether he would have retained legal immunity.

If Ms Duterte-Carpio were to be elected president, she would be likely to protect her father from criminal charges in the Philippines and from ICC prosecutors.

Mr Duterte won the presidency in 2016 on a platform of crushing crime and fixing the country's drugs crisis but critics say that he has encouraged police to engage in extrajudicial killings of suspects.

In June, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court applied to open a full investigation into drug war killings in the Philippines, saying crimes against humanity could have been committed.

An Amnesty International report found that more than 7,000 people were killed by police or unknown armed attackers in the first six months of Mr Duterte's presidency.

Source: BBC