MANILA, Philippines – It’s another overwhelming win for the Duterte dynasty in their bailiwick.

The slate is led by mayoral candidate Sebastian Duterte, the youngest son of President Rodrigo Duterte and the brother of vice presidential candidate Sara Duterte. Their oldest brother, Paolo Duterte, also secured his reelection as Davao City 1st District Representative.

Practically all of the city’s elected officials are members of Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HBP) or Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod (HTL). HNP is the party Sara Duterte founded in 2018 while HTL is a party that President Rodrigo Duterte originated.

Replacing Sebastian or “Baste” as vice mayor is outgoing city councilor Melchor Quitain Jr., an HTL candidate.

Quitain Jr. is the son and namesake of Jesus Melchor Quitain, the chief presidential legal counsel and former officer-in-charge of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President. 

The three Duterte children have held posts in the city since the late 2000s, even as their father was still mayor. Sara was first elected in 2007 as vice mayor while Paolo joined the city council after being elected barangay chairman of Catalunan Grande. Youngest son Sebastian was first elected vice mayor in 2019. 

A “Mayor Duterte” has been at the helm of Davao City Hall for over 30 years – save for one term when Rodrigo Duterte ran instead to represent the city in Congress. The streak is set to continue with the election of Baste. His is the third generation of Dutertes in Davao politics – the first being their grandfather, Vicente Duterte, the governor of the once-unified Davao.

Sara had initially filed to seek reelection with Baste as her vice mayor. But she withdrew her candidacy and left HNP, later joining national party Lakas-CMD. She eventually filed her candidacy for vice president under Lakas-CMD, which she now co-chairs. 

She has since rejoined HNP as its chairman. The outgoing mayor has been joining her siblings in campaign sorties in the city during the final stretch of the campaign, as she registered majority preference in pre-election surveys. 

Even before the campaign period started, Baste booted out two councilors running for reelection under the HNP-HTL slate. In a Facebook post, the youngest Duterte sibling in politics claimed the ideals of Councilors Nilo “Small” Abellera Jr. and Pamela “Pameng” Librado-Morata “are not in line with the political party’s vision for Davao City and the Philippines.” Both city councilors had ties to the Duterte family. 

HTL is a Davao city-based party founded by President Duterte, while HNP is a regional party founded by Sara Duterte in 2018. – Rappler.com