Ex Pres. Duterte: “is it a public clamor? Sige, mag-mayor tayo”
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 06 October) – Former President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday night said he will run again for mayor of Davao City if that is the clamor of the public, and his son, Sebastian, the incumbent mayor, will be his running mate in the May 2025 polls.
“You are thinking that I am running? You are speculating that I am running. Is that the popular notion?” he said at the press conference held at the Grand Men Seng Hotel.
Asked what position he would run for, Duterte replied: “what do you think?” to which a number of reporters replied, “Mayor.”
“Is it a public clamor? … Gusto ng tao? Sige mag-mayor tayo (Is this what the people want? Okay, we’ll go for mayor),” Duterte said, adding “Baste (Sebastian’s nickname) will be my vice-mayor.”
Asked when he would file his certificate of candidacy, Duterte said “you will know.”
Duterte supporters cheered his announcement but critics say this is a ploy to discourage potential candidates from filing their COCs for mayor.
The last day for filing of COCS is on Tuesday, October 8.
As of Saturday, only one person has filed his COC for Mayor: Rodrigo “Bishop Rod” Cubos of Christ The Healer International Missions Movement.
Expected to challenge the Dutertes in the top posts of mayor, vice mayor and congressional representative are the children of Duterte’s nemesis, the late Prospero Nograles, but they have not filed their COCs as of Saturday.
In a series of press conferences earlier this year, Duterte had repeatedly said he has retired from politics and will not run for mayor.
If he does run for mayor and he wins, this will be the 8th mayoralty term for the 79-year old Duterte. (In the press conference, he repeatedly referred to his age as 73).
He was mayor of Davao City from 1988 to 1998, 2001 to 2010, 2013 to 2016 and President from 2016 to 2022. In 1986, he was appointed OIC Vice Mayor vice his mother, Soledad who suggested her son in her stead. Term-limited for the mayoralty in 1998, he run for and was elected 1st district representative to Congress, and term-limited for mayor in 2010, he run for and was elected Vice Mayor while his daughter Sara was Mayor.
At present, there are two Dutertes who are barangay captains. Catalunan Grande barangay chair January Navares-Duterte, wife of Duterte’s eldest son, Paolo, 1st district Representative, and Omar Vincent of Barangay Buhangin Proper, the eldest son of Paolo with first wife Lovelie Sangkola.
January represents the Liga ng mga Barangay in the City Council. Last month, records from the City Council secretariat showed January as the councilor with most absences: she attended only 15 of 33 sessions from January to August 2024.
The secretariat’s Charito Santos, however, said most of her absences were due to “official business.”
If Duterte runs for mayor, and his sons Paolo and Sebastian, will run again for the 1st district and for vice mayor, and if all of them win, there will be seven Dutertes in public office: the Duterte patriarch as mayor, Sara as Vice President, Paolo, Sebastian, barangay chair January, barangay chair Omar and the newcomer, Rodrigo Duterte II or “Rigo,” the second son of Paolo and Lovelie, who filed his COC for Councilor of the 1st district.
Rigo represents the fourth generation of Dutertes in public office. Rodrigo Duterte’s father, Vicente, was Governor of the undivided Davao. Before migrating to Davao City, he was appointed acting mayor of Danao in Cebu and in was elected Governor of the undivided Davao.
“Marunong pa naman ako siguro (Maybe I am still capable),” the former President said.
“Papatayin ko kayo”
Duterte warned anew those who are involved in illegal drugs.
“‘Pag tatakbo ako ng mayor, at this early, I say… lumayo na kayo, ngayon na… Papatayin ko kayo” (If I run for mayor, this early, I say, get out now. I will kill you).
He said drug pushers and addicts must leave the city, maybe go to “Manila or to Cebu.”
Addressing human rights defenders, Duterte said, “p****ng i**, makinig kayong mabuti. Just one word, do not f**k it here” (listen well. Just one word, do not f**k it here).
He warned those involved in drugs, the holduppers and kidnappers, “do not expect na kung magka-engkwentro tayo, bubuhayin kita, nagwarning na ako sa inyo (do not expect that if we encounter each other, I will make you live).
“Kayong mga holdaper, tapos i-rape ninyo iyong mga biktima ninyo, papatayin ninyo, Do not expect na kung ako ang ma-mayor, mag-engkwentro tayo bubuhayin ko kayo. Talagang papatayin ko kayo. Dapat makinig ang human rights diyan. Kaya dapat yung human rights magkampanya, magkampanya todo-todo, huwag kayong bumoto kay Duterte” [You holduppers, you rape your victims, I will kill you. Do not expect that if I am mayor, and we will encounter each other, I will make you live. I will really kill you. Human rights (defenders) should listen. Human rights (defenders) should campaign, should do an all-out campaign not to vote for Duterte].
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency listed 6,252 persons killed between July 2016 and May 2022, during the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs. Human rights groups, however, say the death toll may be as high as 30,000.
Duterte is facing charges of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his bloody war on drugs.
Then ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced that the ICC will conduct a preliminary examination of these deaths in February 2018. The pre-trial investigation began five years later on Sept. 15, 2021—covering crimes allegedly committed in the country between Nov. 1, 2011, the date the Rome Statute became effective in the Philippines, and March 16, 2019. This expanded the scope of the investigation beyond the Duterte presidency’s “war on drugs” to also include killings during Duterte’s time as Davao City mayor.
On March 17, 2018, then-President Duterte formally notified the UN Secretary-General that the Philippines was withdrawing from the Rome Statute. The withdrawal became effective on March 16, 2019, a year after its receipt by the UN Secretary General.
Duterte has repeatedly said he does not recognize the investigation by the ICC which he said, has no jurisdiction over the Philippines. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
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