Former President Rodrigo R. Duterte announced in a press conference last Saturday evening that he will run for mayor of Davao City. He added that incumbent mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, his youngest son, will possibly be running as his vice mayor.
True or not we will only know after the filing of certificate of candidacy deadline which is on October 8, 2024. But still, even if FPRRD shall have filed his certificate by Tuesday next week it does not mean that he is already the candidate of Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod for Davao City mayor. Remember that there is still a period within which a candidate can have his candidacy withdrawn and substituted by any person of his choice who is also willing to run.
Knowing the former President for quite some time already we know he is one who can easily devise a scheme with which his political enemy can be tricked into making actions that can be detrimental to his or her (political enemy’s) objective. Easily, Filipinos can remember how the former President and former mayor of Davao City as well, caught his political nemesis off-guard when Duterte ended up substituting the late Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Martin Dino as the official candidate of the PDP-Laban for President.
The result was the sudden collapse of the campaign plan infrastructures laid by all the other Presidential candidates. The rest is now history in Philippine politics.
Meanwhile, our take on the former President’s announcement that he will run for City Mayor is one simple scheme of discouraging anyone from among the bigger political groups in the city to try to topple the Duterte stranglehold of the city.
Yes, it cannot be denied that at this point in time the Dutertes led by FPRRD are like granite posts to an equally rock-solid wall that even a bulldozer-strong political opposition cannot topple down. And with the current generation of Dutertes with the patriarch as candidate for city mayor, it is foolhardy even just to try his or her luck.
But of course, if the candidate for mayor will be incumbent Baste, maybe there will be some bold souls who will attempt, more so if he or she is assured of logistical backings by the current national administration.
So we believe that Duterte the father, has with his announcement to run for mayor in the 2025 mid-term election, already effectively laid the barrier stopping other possible mayoralty aspirants right on the track. After all, what is FPRRD’s political astuteness and shrewdness for if he miss out using it to his and his family’s full advantage?
But again, this is a free country and any citizen who has even just the most basic of qualifications, can run for any elective post, the mayor of a first class city like Davao, included. So we are not surprised that we now have a “bishop” of a religious group with 15 thousand members in the city alone aspiring to become the next Davao City’s chief executive – “Bishop” Rodolfo Cubos of Love the Philippines Movement, and Christ the Healer International Mission denomination. Will there be other bold souls out there to run against the former President and Davao City Mayor?
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Nilo “Small” Abellera Jr. has already filed his candidacy for reelection as councilor of Davao City’s first district. Abellera the Small is running under the banner of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) where President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. is Chairman.
Of course we should not be surprised with the stand of Councilor Small. Even during the 2022 local election he was already eased out from the Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod slate. Fortunately for him he managed to survive the onslaught of the other members of the slate for the first district of the city.
Now, with his cousin a close ally of the President who is now Chair of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), Small Abellera could not have made a mistake in his option.
Meanwhile, with Abellera Jr, out of the Hugpong group we are already certain it is Rigo Duterte who will fill in his slot. But are there others from among the current first district councilors being eyed for “ouster”? We’d surely know by Tuesday evening after the filing of COCs deadline.
And what about Vice Mayor Jay Quitain? If it is Mayor Baste who’ll be sliding down to run for Vice Mayor of his father, will the incumbent VM be running for councilor? If he will, who is likely to be kicked out from the present Hugpong council reelection aspirants?
Of course we have an idea. That is, if FPRRD runs and subsequently have himself substituted by son Baste. The likelihood is that VM Quitain will also be made to substitute Baste who’ll be moving up.
But again, Davaoenos may only have a much clearer picture of the local political situation starting Wednesday, October 9, 2024.
Let us just keep ourselves closely posted.
