Today’s poll numbers show that the Duterte family continues to be influential in their home town of Davao City, as three of President Rodrigo Duterte’s children are poised to win in the midterm elections.
Partial, unofficial results that came from the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) at 9:46am today show that Sara Duterte is on her way to be re-elected as the city mayor with 567,777 votes to her favor, based on 97.89 percent of Election Returns. That’s far ahead of the 4,176 votes received by her rival, independent candidate Jun Marcellones.
The president has called Sara the “alpha” in the family and also once quipped that if he fails to fulfill his promises, people can rely on her because she is allegedly good and capable, reported The Philippine Star. However, he has warned Sara against running for president, saying that the position would just “destroy” her.
Meanwhile, Sara’s younger brother, Sebastian Duterte, ran unopposed as the city vice mayor. As of this morning, he has received 545,807 votes.
Sebastian, who has been publicly described as a “womanizer” by his father, had previously said that politics was not his thing because he found it troublesome. According to a 2016 Philippine Star profile, he has never worked in an office or for any employer but owns a junk shop where he works “at the end of the month.”
Their brother Paolo Duterte, who ran for congressman in Davao City’s first district, has received 195,074 votes, far more than his rivals Susan Uyanguren (5,081 votes) and Rex Labis (2,112 votes).
Paolo was the city’s vice mayor until he quit in December 2017 after he was implicated in a drug smuggling controversy and had a public squabble with his daughter.
President Duterte was Davao City mayor for a cumulative total of 22 years or seven terms. There were also years when he held other government positions — in 2010 to 2013 he was Davao City vice mayor while Sara was mayor. In 1998 to 2001, he was elected as congressman of Davao City’s first district.
Duterte was the city’s mayor before winning the presidency in 2016. Sara then took over as Davao City mayor once again.
But after voting yesterday, the President chose not to play the role of the supportive father by saying his children should just leave politics.
“The earlier that they go out of politics the better,” he said.
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