The family of President Rodrigo Duterte cemented its grip on Davao politics after the three eldest Duterte siblings were poised to win in Monday’s elections.
Sara Duterte was upbeat about posting a landslide victory over her closest rival, while her running mate, younger brother Sebastian, was unopposed.
Meanwhile, President Duterte does not want his daughter Sara to experience the presidency, the Palace said on Tuesday.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo told reporters it was only natural for the President to warn his daughter to shoot down her plans to become the next president.
“I think, it’s because many people would want her to run. The President feels, through his experience, that it’s hard to become President. People would criticize you even though you were doing good,” Panelo said.
“Since he is a father to a daughter, he doesn’t want her children to experience what he’s going through right now.”
Sara, who sought her third and last term, obtained 511,393 votes over the 3,853 votes received by independent candidate Jun Marcellones based on the partial, unofficial results from the Comelec as of 8:30 p.m. on Monday.
As of 9:46 a.m. on Tuesday, the partial, unofficial results showed that Sara amassed 567,777 votes based on 97.89 percent of the Election Returns. Marcellones received 4,176 votes.
Sebastian, who promised to do his job well, received 545,807 votes.
For the city’s 1st district, Paolo Duterte got 190,155 votes against Rex Labis’ 2,064 votes and Susan Uyanguren’s 4,950 votes based on the partial, unofficial results from the Comelec Monday night. As of 9:46 a.m. Tuesday, he had 195,074 votes.
Uyanguren and Labis had 5,081 votes and 2,112 votes, respectively.
It would be the first in Congress for Paolo, who earlier quit his vice mayoralty post in December 2017 after his name was dragged in the Senate investigation on the illegal drug operations in the country.
However, it would be the first time in politics for Sebastian who was earlier more inclined to do commercials for various products than to enter politics.
Sara, Sebastian, and Paolo are the President’s children with his first wife Elizabeth Zimmerman. He has another child, Veronica “Kitty” with his common-law wife Honeylet Avanceña.
With the three Duterte children emerging victorious in the midterm elections, and their father as the President, Davao City remains the “stronghold” of the Dutertes.
But the President defended his family from strong criticisms that they were building a “political dynasty” in Davao.
While the President admitted that he did not want political dynasties, he said they were forced into it because the people asked for it.
“Go to Davao City, you conduct a survey. Go to the people, ask the people,” said Duterte. He said when a politician was able to deliver, it would result in a dynasty because “that’s what people ask for.”
Duterte’s father Vicente was governor of the then-unified province of Davao.
The President first entered Davao City politics when he was appointed officer-in-charge of the vice mayor’s post by then President Corazon Aquino after the 1986 People Power Revolution. He was the city’s mayor for more than two decades before he served as congressman for three years.
When he assumed the presidency in 2016, his daughter Sara took over as city mayor.
Sara also defended her other siblings joining politics, stressing that it was still a democratic process” since the voters would have the final say.
Meanwhile, it was 12-0 in the senatorial race in Davao City with 12 out of the 13 candidates for senators endorsed by Hugpong ng Pagbabago entering the winning circle based on the initial tally of votes as of Monday night.
The result came from 999 clustered precincts out of the 1,139 precincts in the bailiwick of President Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sara, who was the regional party’s campaign manager.
The President’s former aide, Christopher Go, a native of Davao, is leading the senatorial race in the city. He was being followed by former Bureau of Corrections and PNP director Ronald dela Rosa.
Dela Rosa also served as Davao City police chief under the administration of Sara.
On the third and fourth spots were Taguig Rep. Pia Cayetano, a returning senator, and reelectionist Senator Cynthia Villar.
Villar, a member of the Nacionalista Party, has tightened her grip as front runner in the senatorial race since the counting began Monday night.
On fifth spot was former presidential consultant and MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino. With Nat Mariano
