DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 27 April) – At the rally of the Duterte-founded Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod (HTL) on Thursday night, Mayor Sebastian Duterte campaigned for himself, his council bets and three Dutertes who were not present: father Rodrigo and brother Paolo for the May 12, 2025 polls, and his sister – Vice President Sara – for the May 8, 2028 polls as the mayor confidently declared she will be the next President of the Philippines in 2028.
“It is already a privilege and honor nga pilion ka sa tao, tagaan kag oportunidad na ipakita nimo kung unsa nimo kamahal ang imong bayan pero and yet pero unsa ginabuhat niya? Pero sige lang, buot pasabot ana, pulihan sya karong 2028 ni Inday Sara Duterte” (It is already a privilege and honor that you were elected by the people, were given the opportunity to show them how much you love your country but what is (President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.) doing? But it’s okay, this means, he will be replaced in 2028 by Inday Sara Duterte), the mayor said. The crowd at the rally site on a field beside the coastal road near Tulip Drive applauded and chanted “Du-ter-te, Du-ter-te.”
Towards the end of his 32-minute speech, the mayor, who called for Marcos’ resignation in January last year, thanked the crowd of supporters for 2016, when his father Rodrigo, a seven-term mayor, was elected as the first Mindanawon President, and in 2022 when his sister Sara, a three-term mayor, was elected Vice President.
“Salamat kaayo sa salig nga ginapakita ninyo sa amoang pamilya. Kung puhon, maluoy ang Ginoo, magbutang na pud tag Presidente sa 2028 nga Dabawenya, si Inday Sara Duterte” (Thank you for your trust in our family. Hopefully, God-willing, we will have a President again in 2028 who is from Davao, Inday Sara Duterte), he said.
Not just for 2025 but also for 2028
Thursday’s HTL rally for District 1 candidates was not just a campaign for 2025 but also for 2028, as the local candidates also pushed for “DuterTen” or ten senatorial candidates backed up by the PDP-Laban party of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, to ensure the impeached Sara will not be convicted.
The House of Representatives On February 5, 2025, transmitted to the Senate its Verified Complaint for Impeachment against the Vice President—containing seven Articles of Impeachment – for alleged culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.
These violations include allegations of contracting an assassin to kill President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez; misuse and malversation of public funds; inciting to sedition and rebellion; large-scale corruption; and allowing extrajudicial killings to continue during her term as Davao City Mayor.
An impeached official can be removed from office upon the vote of 2/3 of the Senate where 24 senator-judges will decide on her fate. For Sara to be convicted, the vote of at least 16 senator-judges is needed. Senate President Francis Escudero had earlier said that the vote of 16 senators is needed even if the total number of senators who will rule on the case is 23 (Senator Sonny Angara resigned after he was named Education Secretary in July last year).
The Duterte camp is pushing for the victory of at least nine out of the 12 Senate seats up for election to “save” Sara from being removed from office and to pave the way for her running for President in 2028.
5 Dutertes
Five Dutertes are running simultaneously in the 2025 polls: Rodrigo, the long-time mayor of Davao City and former President, for his 8th term as mayor; his youngest son, Mayor Sebastian, for Vice Mayor, a post he occupied from 2019 to 2022; his eldest son, Paolo, for a third term as Representative of the 1stdistrict; Paolo’s eldest son Omar, a businessman and barangay captain, for Representative of the 2nddistrict; Paolo’s son Rodrigo II, a businessman, for Councilor in the first district.
Two other Dutertes are incumbents: Sara, the Vice President; and Barangay Catalunan Grande chair January, wife of Paolo, who is a Councilor as she is chair of the Association of Barangay Captains.
Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on March 11 and has been detained since March 12 in The Hague in the Netherlands, where he is facing charges of crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court. The confirmation of charges against him is scheduled on September 23.
The mayor and the council bets took turns reminding the crowd that the former President has not been disqualified as a candidate even if he is detained at The Hague. Paolo is presently in The Hague to visit his father.
3 seats for PPP
Mayor Duterte also urged supporters to vote for the PPP (Pwersa ng Pilipinong Pandagat) party-list whose first nominee is Harold Rodriguez Duterte.
The mayor said that based on surveys, PPP might win three seats in Congress.
“And now, naa tay PPP party list nga which was agreed upon by the Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod, nga mao ning mga kandidato nato, and karon nga makabutang ta, kay medyo okay gyud ang survey nato, basig tulo ka kongresman ang masulod nato sa PPP party list,” he said.
At the rally, all the nine candidates of the HTL for councilor in the 1st district were onstage with the mayor. The first district, however, has only eight seats. Based on the Comelec list, HTL has six candidates for the eight seats in the 2nd district and seven seats for the eight seats in the 3rd district.
Mayor Duterte described HTL candidates as “kaming tanan kasagaran pud diri, apo og mga anak man mi” (most of us are grandchildren or children) of former elected officials. Among the nine candidates for councilor, only one is not a relative of a former official. The rest are sons, grandsons, daughters, niece.
Duterte vs Nograles
It is the first time since the 2010 elections that the Dutertes are being challenged at the polls.
Rodrigo Duterte is running for an eighth term as mayor against former 1st district Representative and former Civil Service Commission chair Karlo Nograles, the eldest son of the late House Speaker Prospero Nograles, Jr.; Rodolfo Cubos (Ind), Jonathan Julaine (Workers and Peasants Party), and Joselito Tan (Ind).
Karlo, who also served as Cabinet Secretary and spokesperson when Rodrigo Duterte was President, is running as an Independent candidate but is believed backed by the Marcos administration, particularly House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Paolo Duterte is running for a third term as Representative of the 1st district against Karlo Nograles’ sister, PBA party-list Rep. Margarita Ignacia “Migs” Nograles; Maria Victoria “Mags” Maglana (Ind), a peace and development worker and independent consultant; Janeth Jabines (Ind), a Pastor; and businessman Rex Labis (Ind).
In 2010, Sara Duterte ran for Mayor after her father was term-limited for the second time (he was mayor for three terms from 1988 to 1998; and another three terms from 2001 to 2010).
The Nograles patriarch challenged the Duterte patriarch for the mayoralty in 1992, tried again against Duterte’s mayoralty bet – then Vice Mayor Benjamin de Guzman – in 1998 and Duterte’s daughter Sara in 2010, but lost in all three attempts. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
