Senator Christopher "Bong" Go, in a letter to the PDP-Laban Party, said he wanted to devote his attention to helping fight the pandemic, asking his allies to support candidates who will continue Duterte's policies and programs.

"As much as I wish to respond to the clamor of many of our party mates, I most respectfully decline the said endorsement," he wrote in the letter, which was made public on Monday.

Go had previously said he was open to running for president if Duterte was his running mate.

Duterte, 76, is prohibited by the constitution from seeking a second term, but his opponents believe he wants to maintain his grip on power.

Under the constitution, a president can serve only one six-year term. Duterte has declared he will seek the vice presidency if daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio does not run for president.

Both Duterte and his daughter had topped recent opinion polls.

"It's possible that Sara Duterte and the father reconciled on strategy for one candidate for 2022," said political analyst Victor Manhit.

Duterte-Carpio declined to comment on whether she and her father had reconciled on political strategy. She has been quoted in media as saying she was open to running for president.

While Duterte remains popular, his administration is facing growing criticism over its handling of the pandemic amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases that has overwhelmed hospitals.

Go's decision to back out would have had Duterte's approval, said analyst Earl Parreno of the Institute of Political and Electoral Reforms, who stressed that "nothing is final yet".

Candidacies only need to be officially filed starting in October.

Internal infighting

A row between rival factions in the Philippines's ruling party escalated on Sunday when a group led by boxing star Emmanuel Pacquiao tried to remove Duterte from his role as party chairman by electing their own.

Refusing to recognize the decision, Duterte's supporters said he was still chairman and branded the other faction as "pretenders and attention seekers".

Pacquiao, Duterte and their respective supporters have been trying to wrest control of the PDP-Laban Party ahead of elections in May by unilaterally electing their own members to leading party roles.

The faction supported by Duterte recently booted out Pacquiao as party president, but Pacquiao has refused to step down.

The two men fell out in June after Pacquiao criticized Duterte's stance on the South China Sea territorial dispute with China, while the latter lashed back by lambasting the boxer's "shallow" foreign policy knowledge.

Pacquiao and his allies in the party elected Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III as chairman, according to one of his backers, the party's executive director Ron Munsayac.

Duterte's backers refused to acknowledge Pimentel's election.

"President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is the PDP Laban Party chairman. He remains to be so and will continue to be so," the group led by Duterte said in a statement.

The head of the Philippines' election commission was cited last week as saying it would have to decide based on documents and the party's constitution which faction is the legitimate representative of PDP-Laban.

Last week Duterte, who has been in power since 2016, said he would run for the vice presidency in May 2022 elections under the PDP-Laban banner.

The party is due to hold a national convention on Sept. 8 where it is expected to endorse Duterte's aide and incumbent senator Go to be its presidential candidate.

Pacquiao, who was on his way home following his loss in the Aug. 21 boxing match with Cuban Yordenis Ugas in Las Vegas, has said he would announce in September if he will run for president.

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