DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 03 October) – Brothers Paolo and Sebastian Duterte on Sunday morning filed their certificates of candidacy, seeking reelection as 1st district Representative and as Vice Mayor, respectively.
Recently confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19, Rep. Duterte’s COC was filed by his brother Sebastian
On Saturday afternoon, their sister Sara, the incumbent mayor, filed her COC for Mayor an hour after their father, President Rodrigo Duterte, announced he was “retiring from politics.”
Sara served as mayor of Davao City from 2010 to 2013, was elected Mayor in 2016 and reelected in 2019.
The Duterte patriarch had earlier accepted the nomination of the PDP-Laban Cusi wing to be its candidate for Vice President. But Duterte did not file his COC for Vice President. Instead, he accompanied Senator Christopher Lawrence ‘Bong’ Go, who was nominated by the party to run for President, when Go filed his COC for Vice President at the Sofitel tent in Pasay City on Saturday afternoon.
Vice Mayor Sebastian Duterte, who was elected in 2019 and is seeking a second term, said he does not know why his sister, a frontrunner in political surveys on the Presidency, did not file a COC for President.
He said she does not look at his sister as a politician or government worker but wants her to be comfortable with whatever decision she makes.
Mayor Duterte on September 9 announced she would “not run for a national position as we both agreed only one of us will run for a national position in 2022,” the “we” referring to her and her father.
Expectations were immediately raised that Sara would run for President but an hour after President Duterte’s announcement, she filed her COC for the city’s top post.
Substitution of candidates is allowed until November 15.
For supporters of Mayor Duterte who continue to hope she would change her mind about running for President, the Vice Mayor’s message is: “if you want to continue what you are doing then it’s up to (you). Maybe something miraculous will happen but I doubt it.”
Rep. Duterte is also seeking a second term as 1st district representative. Recently confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19, his COC was filed by his brothe Sebastian.
Since the People Power revolution in 1986, Rodrigo Duterte has dominated the political landscape of Davao City as OIC Vice Mayor from 1986 to 1987; elected mayor for three terms from 1988 to 1998; served as 1st district Representative from 1998 to 2001 and returned as mayor for another three terms from 2001 to 2010; was vice mayor from 2010 to 2013 and returned as mayor from 2013 to 2016.
Since 2007, the posts of Mayor and Vice Mayor have been held by a Duterte tandem: Sara was Vice Mayor to her mayor-father from 2007 to 2010. The Duterte patriarch served as Vice Mayor to Sara from 2010 to 2013; Paolo was Vice Mayor to sister Sara from 2013 to 2016 and from 2016 until he resigned on December 25, 2017. In 2019, Sebastian joined the political arena for the first time and won as Vice Mayor to sister Sara. (MindaNews)