Comelec proclaims 5 Dutertes as election winners

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 13 May) – The Commission on Elections on Tuesday proclaimed five Dutertes as winners in the May 12 elections as Dabawenyos voted for the father, two sons and two grandsons to key posts. 

The Dutertes were elected Mayor (Rodrigo), Vice Mayor (Sebastian), Representative of the 1^st district (Paolo), Representative of the 2^nd district (Omar), and Councilor of the 1^st district (Rigo). Paolo and Sebastian are Rodrigo’s sons while Omar and Rigo are sons of Paolo.

The Board of Canvassers finished the canvassing of election returns at 11:51 a.m. at the Sangguniang Panlungsod. At 3:30 p.m., Atty. Shahani Ebrahim, Comeelc election officer for Distreict 3, led the proclamation of the 29 winners: mayor, vice mayor, three representatives to Congress and 24 councilors at eight per district. 

_{^{Rigo (left) and Omar Duterte after being proclaimed as winners on Tuesday, 13 May 2025. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO}}

Among the five Dutertes, only Omar and Rigo were present during the proclamation of winners. Rodrigo, Paolo and Sebastian were proclaimed in absentia. Rodrigo is detained in The Hague, the Netherlands, where he is facing charges of crimes against humanity for murder before the International Criminal Court. 

As Renante Solitario, Davao City Superintendent of the Department of Education and Secretary of the City Board of Canvassers, read the number of votes garnered by Rodrigo Duterte, the crowd cheered,  Du-ter-te, Du-ter-te, Du-ter-te.

The Duterte patriarch won by a landslide with 662,630 votes against 80,852 votes for former Civil Service Commission chair Karlo Nograles. The other contenders — Bishop Rod Cubos got 7,757 votes, Jonathan Julaine 1,351 and Joselito Ran 1,139.

Outgoing Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte clobbered his rival in the vice mayoralty race, Councilor Bernard Al-ag. Sebastian garnered 651,356 votes against Al-ag’s 78,893 votes. 

From 34 to 37 years 

By June 30, 2025, the Dutertes would have served as mayor for 34 years: Rodrigo for 22,  Sara for nine years and Sebastian for three. 

Representative Paolo “Pulong” Duterte earned a third term as first district representative, garnering 203,557 votes against PBA party-list Rep. Margarita Ignacia “Migs” Nograles’ 49,186 votes, and peace and development worker Maria Victoria “Mags” Maglana’ 3,530 votes, Pastor Janeth Jabines’ 1,870 and businessman Rex Labis’ 331. 

Paolo’s eldest son, Omar, who entered politics by running unopposed as barangay chair of Buhangin in 2023, will represent the 2^nd district, having received 160,432 votes against Rep. Javi Garcia Campos’ 90,156. 

When Omar was proclaimed winner, the crowd – mostly composed of families and friends of the elected councilors, cheered “Du-ter-te, Du-ter-te, Du-ter-te.”

Omar had the toughest battle among the Duterte candidates because the second district is the bailiwick of the Garcias, former allies of the Dutertes. 

Paolo’s other son, Rodrigo II, got the highest votes among the eight winners for councilor of the first district. He was proclaimed alone after he arrived late for the proclamation of the first district winners. Cheers of “Du-ter-te, Du-ter-te, Du-ter-te” also rang inside the Sangguniang Panlungsod hall during his proclamation.

Voters’ turnout in the city was at 77.21 percent. The city has total registered voters of 1,006,592 and 777,231 voters exercised their right to vote. 

Two other Dutertes are incumbent government officials: Sara is vice president and January, Pulong’s wife is chair of Barangay Catalunan Grande. As president of the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) in the city, January also sits as ex-officio member at the Sangguniang Panlungsod. 

Rep. Isidro Ungab, an ally of the Dutertes, was reelected as Representative of the 3^rd district.  All the other winners in the city are allies of the Duterte family. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)