DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 10 May) – First-time candidate Rodrigo “Rigo” Duterte II is being pushed to become number one councilor because if it cannot be a Rodrigo Duterte-Sebastian Duterte mayoral and vice mayoral partnership from 2025 to 2028 because the patriarch is in The Hague, it will still be Duterte-Duterte or Team Sebastian Duterte-Rodrigo Duterte II.
That scenario is premised on the victory of the Dutertes on May 12.
If former President Rodrigo Duterte is elected for an 8th term as Davao City mayor, who will sit as mayor while he is detained in The Hague, the Netherlands where he is facing charges of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC)?
If the Duterte patriarch wins, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will proclaim him winner in absentia. Comelec chair George Garcia had repeatedly said this since March and during his visit here on April 29. “We can proclaim him winner in absentia,” Garcia told MindaNews.
Duterte was arrested on March 11 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport upon his arrival from Hong Kong and was flown to The Hague that same evening. He made his first appearance before the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber 1 on March 14 for the verification of the identity of the suspect and was informed of the charges against him and of his rights under the ICC Rome Statute. He will appear again for the confirmation of charges on September 23.
“Sa batas natin, kapag yung local chief executive hindi kaagad nag-qualify, yung (Under our laws, when the local chief executive does not immediately qualify, the) vice mayor, vice governor shall act in an acting capacity,” Garcia said.
In the Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod (HTL) political party, Duterte’s vice mayoralty bet is his youngest son, Sebastian, the incumbent mayor who was elected vice mayor in 2019. Sebastian’s first entry in politics was a breeze. He ran for Vice Mayor, unopposed, in 2019 and ran again, unopposed, in 2022. But he was forced to withdraw his candidacy for vice mayor when elder sister Sara withdrew her candidacy for mayor to run for Vice President, the running mate of now President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
If the Duterte patriarch wins against Karlo Alexei Nograles, an independent candidate believed backed by the Marcos administration, he will be proclaimed in absentia but to qualify for his post, he has to take his oath of office as elected mayor.
But where will he take his oath? Can he take his oath where he is detained or at the Philippine Embassy in The Hague?
Garcia said that is not up to the Comelec but the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). Comelec’s role is merely to proclaim, he said.
Antonio Arellano, Dean of the University of Mindanao’s College of Legal Education, said he has to qualify as the newly-elected mayor by taking the oath of office. “The taking of oath is the requisite before he can qualify to hold the office,” he said.
“I am not familiar with the protocol on venue of the oath-taking but my take is that the venue is of no moment. What is legally required is that the public officer who shall administer the oath must be one who has legal authority to do so,” Arellano said.
Former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello told MindaNews the former President can take his oath “anywhere with notice to ICC.”
5 Dutertes + 2 + party-list
There are five Dutertes running for elective posts: Rodrigo for an 8th term as mayor, son Sebastian for his second term as Vice Mayor, son Paolo for his third term as first district Representatives, Paolo’s son Omar for second district representative and his other son, Rodrigo II, for first district councilor.
The Dutertes are also endorsing Pwersa ng Pilipinong Pandagat (PPP) party-list whose first nominee is Harold Duterte.
The 27-year old Rodrigo II or Rigo, a businessman according to his certificate of candidacy, is apparently being groomed to be number one councilor so if the patriarch wins as mayor and Sebastian wins as Vice Mayor, the latter will serve as Acting Mayor while his father is in The Hague, leaving the vice mayoralty open for the number one councilor to serve as Acting Vice Mayor.
In Barangay Talomo, messages on tarpaulins urge voters to “Save VP Sara” by voting for PDP-Laban senatorial bets and the HTL slate. There are nine HTL candidates for eight council seats in the first district.
The tarpaulins urge voters to make Rodrigo II the first to be voted. “Unaha si #10 Duterte, Rigo” (Make Duterte, Rigo first) and below it, the message “Dugangi ug pito, diri pili” (add seven, choose here) referring to the list of the eight other bets for councilor under that message.
Sample ballots also show Rigo Duterte as number one on the list of eight councilors for the district.
The Duterte dynasty has dominated Davao City politics for nearly four decades now. The Dutertes have been mayor for 34 out of 37 years since the first post EDSA local elections in 1988, missing only three years (1998 to 2001) when Rodrigo was term-limited but he spent those three years as representative of the 1st district.
Rodrigo was mayor for 22 years, Sara for nine years and Sebastian for three years.
Two Dutertes have represented the first district for nine years: Rodrigo from 1998 to 2001 and Paolo from 2019.
For 13.5 years, the city has had a Duterte-Duterte for mayor and vice mayor: Rodrigo-Sara in 2007 to 2010; Sara-Rodrigo from 2010 to 2013; Rodrigo-Paolo from 2013 to 2016; Sara-Paolo from 2016 to 2019 although Paolo cut short his three-year term by half when he resigned in December 2017; and Sara-Sebastian from 2019 to 2022. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
READ ALSO:
Duterte campaign: for May 12, 2025 polls and Sara for President in 2028
SPECIAL REPORT: The Duterte dynasty in 2025: expansion or collapse?
SPECIAL REPORT: The Dutertes of Davao: Destiny to Dynasty
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