Duterte camp weighs options if Digong wins – Sara

Vice President Sara Duterte talks to reporters after casting her vote at the Daniel R. Aguinaldo National High School in Matina, Davao City on 12 May 2025. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 12 May) – Former President Rodrigo Duterte, whom his camp is “confident” of winning the mayoralty race in this city, could render the functions of the office while in detention in The Hague, his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte said Monday.

Speaking to reporters after casting her votes at the Daniel R. Aguinaldo National High School, Sara disclosed that they are seeking options on how he can take his oath of office from The Hague, Netherlands, should he win the race.

The Duterte patriarch was arrested in Manila on March 11 and immediately brought to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on charges of alleged crimes against humanity for murder in connection with his bloody “war on drugs.”

“Pinag-uusapan pa namin ng mga ICC lawyers kung paano siya (magsisilbi) as a winner of the mayoralty race. Actually nung isang araw, may pinag-uusapang tatlong options paano siya makatake ng oath (We are still discussing with the ICC lawyers how he can serve if he wins the mayoralty race. Actually the other day, we discussed three options on how he can take his oath),” the vice president said.

She did not discuss those options.

But she cited that the Local Government Code allows the vice mayor to take over as officer-in-charge in the absence of the mayor.

“Wala namang legal questions diyan eh kasi Local Government Code na ang nagsabi, kapag wala ang mayor, ang vice-mayor ang mag aacting mayor, walang butas sa batas diyan (There is no legal questions on that because the Local Government Code states that the vice mayor can take over if the mayor is not around. There is no loophole in that,” Sara stressed.

Her younger brother, Mayor Sebastian Duterte, is running for vice mayor along with Councilor Bernie Al-ag and two others.

If the Duterte patriarch wins, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will proclaim him winner in absentia. Comelec chair George Garcia had repeatedly said this since March and during his visit here on April 29. “We can proclaim him winner in absentia,” Garcia told MindaNews. 

Garcia said that it is up to the Department of the Interior and Local Government on where Duterte can take his oath of office if he wins.

Comelec’s role is merely to proclaim, he said. 

Antonio Arellano, Dean of the University of Mindanao’s College of Legal Education, said he has to qualify as the newly-elected mayor by taking the oath of office. “The taking of oath is the requisite before he can qualify to hold the office,” he said.

Sara said that her father had not voted because he was not able to register for absentee voting, despite attempts by Duterte’s local and ICC legal counsels to have him exempt from the local absentee voting law.

Rodrigo’s main rival, Karlo Nograles, an independent but believed to be backed by the ruling Marcos administration, said that once the former president wins, “it could raise question marks” as it will be the first time that it will happen in the city.

“Kahit ako, as a lawyer, marami kasing legal questions that might be asked, na hindi natin alam ang sagot, because it is a very unique situation (I, as a lawyer, know that many legal questions might be asked, the answer of which we don’t know because we would be in a unique situation then),” Nograles said. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)