MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte will endorse Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez for vice president in the 2022 elections should the latter decide to run for the post, Malacañang said Friday.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo confirmed Duterte’s support for Romualdez in the 2022 national elections.

“He (Romualdez) is a good person. If he wants it, then I will [endorse],” Duterte told The Daily Tribune in an exclusive interview Thursday.

Romualdez was among top contenders for the House of Representatives' Speakership post in the incoming Congress, but Duterte endorsed him as Majority Leader instead.

The President opted to back the speakership bid of his defeated 2016 running mate Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano and his PDP-Laban partymate Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco in a term-sharing scheme.

Romualdez, nephew of former First Lady Imelda Marcos, sought a Senate seat in 2016 but failed in his bid.

Duterte is known to be a friend to the Marcos family. Last year, he several times expressed favor for former senator Bongbong Marcos, Romualdez's cousin, who is pursuing an electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.

Robredo beat Marcos in the May 2016 elections by a little over 260,000 votes, the closest vice presidential race in recent memory.

Duterte earlier said he believes Marcos, son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, was better qualified as his successor.