Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, detained at the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity, regained the mayorship of family stronghold Davao city in a landslide vote, an initial tally showed.
With over 60 percent of returns in, Duterte had built an insurmountable lead of 405,000 votes to 49,000 for his nearest competitor, results from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) released by local media showed.
But what role, if any, Duterte will play in governing the city of nearly 1.8 million from his cell in the Netherlands is unclear.
His daughter, impeached vice president Sara Duterte, told reporters after casting her vote earlier in the day that plans were already underway to ensure he would officially become mayor.
“His ICC lawyers and his Filipino lawyers are discussing how to have him take his oath of office as winner of the mayoral contest here in Davao city,” she said, noting they had until June 30.
Duterte, 80, was arrested at Manila’s international airport on March 11 and flown to The Hague the same day to face charges tied to his crackdown on drugs that killed thousands of mostly poor men.
His communication since has come sporadically and through surrogates, mainly Sara.
“I don’t think he will ever be able to assume the office if he’s still in The Hague,” said Michael Henry Yusingco, a senior research fellow at the Ateneo School of Government, said Monday.
There is precedent for governing from a prison cell in the Philippines, with former senator Leila de Lima — jailed by Duterte on what rights groups say were trumped-up drug charges — a prime example.
During six years behind bars, de Lima still consulted regularly with allies and even cast votes via proxies.
Duterte’s ability to remotely call the shots in Davao, however, may be more compromised given the distance and potential Hague restrictions on communication, Yusingco said.
“If you cannot (be at City Hall) because of your circumstances, then I think it only logically follows that you have to be treated as incapacitated for the moment, and therefore the vice mayor will take over,” he said.
Duterte’s youngest son Sebastian, who stepped aside for his father after serving as Davao’s mayor for the past three years, looked set to claim the city’s vice mayorship on Monday.
But while residents of Davao have a level of familiarity with the 37-year-old Sebastian, his father cannot be so easily replaced, Yusingco said.
“The Duterte magic solely belongs to him… it’s not transferable to his children,” he said.
