Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio and Sen. Imee Marcos during the “Hugpong ng Pagbabago” (HNP)-National Unity Party (NUP) alliance agreement. (FILE PHOTO)

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday revealed that Senator Imee Marcos is planning to run as vice president in 2022 with daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio as president.

In his regular Talk to the People program, President Duterte said Imee’s political plan is she goes to Sara hoping that the latter will run for presidency and she would be vice president.

“Si Imee, ganito ang laro n’yan, pinupuntahan niya si Mayor Duterte sa Davao, hoping na magtakbo ‘yon, siya ang maging bise,” Duterte said.

But the President said of his daughter, “Hindi naman tatakbo, sabi niya.”

Earlier, Imee, daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, said her brother, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. would be “honored” to be Duterte-Carpio’s running mate.

“Everything’s possible but I supposed the most obvious thing is if the Dutertes have the solid south, we’re assumed to have the solid north. Parang marriage made in heaven yan (It’s like a marriage made in heaven),” she told in a tv interview.

But, Sara Duterte said the public would have to wait until October, when candidacies would be filed, to find out whether or not she would run for president.

Meanwhile, President Duterte repeated he would run for vice president.

“Bakit? Walang oposisyon, hindi ‘man manalo ‘yang oposisyon. Sigurado ako, ‘yong Otso Diretso ulit na naman ‘yon,” he said, referring to the opposition slate that failed to secure a Senate seat in the 2019 polls.

Duterte’s allies last week said he would back out of the 2022 race if his daughter would run as his successor. But the mayor said her father and his political party should not drag her into their political plans.

Under the constitution, a president can serve only one 6-year term. Critics fear Duterte wanted the vice presidency as a ploy to stay in power and avoid possible legal actions.

His aides say the 76-year-old Duterte wanted to complete his “unfinished business” against illegal drugs and government corruption, which in 2016 he promised voters he could stamp out in 3 to 6 months.