Duterte, who has been president since 2016, is ineligible to seek another term in the next year’s presidential vote.
His ruling PDP-Laban party instead nominated the 76-year-old for the position of vice-president.
But Duterte announced on Saturday that he won’t be running for VP, saying that he had made this decision in response to the “public’s wishes.”
“Today, I announce my retirement from politics,” he said, appearing at the Commission on Elections center in capital Manila alongside loyalist Senator Christopher ‘Bong’ Go, who was registered PDP-Laban party’s candidate for vice-president instead.
“The overwhelming… sentiment of the Filipinos is that I am not qualified and it would be a violation of the constitution to circumvent the law, the spirit of the constitution” to run for the vice presidency, he insisted.