The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will determine who will assume the functions of Davao City mayor following the election victory of former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently detained in The Hague.
Duterte was proclaimed the winner of the Davao City mayoral race, defeating former Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles in a landslide victory. However, his detention in the International Criminal Court (ICC) prison on charges of crimes against humanity has raised questions about the city’s leadership.
“We’ll leave that to the DILG,” said Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco in an ambush interview with reporters.
Laudiangco emphasized that Comelec’s role is limited to proclaiming winners, regardless of their legal status, unless there is an explicit court or commission order to suspend a proclamation.
“The jurisdiction of the Comelec is to proclaim whoever wins the election,” he explained. “We haven’t received any order from any court or from the commission to prevent a proclamation.”
He noted that physical presence is not a requirement during proclamations. “The raising of hands is merely symbolic and ceremonial,” Laudiangco said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Davao City Board of Canvassers formally proclaimed Duterte as the mayor-elect after securing 662,630 votes.
Duterte was arrested on March 11 in the Philippines based on an ICC-issued warrant. He is currently held at the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague, facing charges stemming from the thousands of extrajudicial killings linked to his administration’s war on drugs.
Vice President Sara Duterte, his daughter, said on Monday that legal consultations were ongoing to determine the next steps should her father be elected.
