It’s up to a government agency called the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to decide who will be the mayor of Davao City while former President Rodrigo Duterte is in prison in The Hague. This was explained by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) on Tuesday.
Duterte recently won the election to be mayor of Davao City, beating his former Cabinet Secretary, Karlo Nograles. However, he is currently in jail in The Hague, facing serious charges for crimes against humanity because of the killings that happened during his time as president, when he led the war on drugs.
In an interview, Comelec spokesperson John Laudiangco said the Commission’s job is just to announce who won the election. He explained that if there are no orders from the court or Comelec saying that someone cannot be declared the winner, they will announce the winner, even if that person is in jail.
Laudiangco also mentioned that candidates who win the election, even if they’re in jail, can still be proclaimed winners as long as there’s no suspension order from the court or the Comelec. He added that the winner doesn’t even have to be physically present during the proclamation ceremony. It’s just a symbolic event, like raising their hand, and doesn’t require the winner to actually be there.
Earlier, the Board of Canvassers in Davao City officially declared Duterte the winner of the mayoral race, with a huge victory of 662,630 votes.
However, Duterte was arrested in the Philippines on March 11 and brought to The Hague, where he is being held in prison on charges related to his administration’s controversial war on drugs. His daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, said that their lawyers have been discussing what to do next, just in case Duterte wins the election.
So, the question now is: Who will take over as mayor of Davao City while Duterte is in jail, and how will this all play out in the coming days? Only the DILG can give an answer to that.
