THE country’s political climate heated up anew after Davao City mayor Sara Duterte announced in her Facebook account this November 9, 2021, that she has withdrawn her candidacy for re-election as Davao City mayor in favor of her brother, Sebastian ‘Baste’ Duterte.
Baste, on the other hand, told Davao-based media that had already withdrawn his own candidacy for vice mayor “on instruction” of his sister, Sara, also on the same day, November 9, 2021.
The Duterte siblings filed their re-election for mayor and vice-mayor, respectively, last October 2,, 2021, at the local office of the Commission on Elections.
All candidates have until November 15, 2021, to change the position they want to challenge in the May 9, 2022 elections based on the prevailing rules on ‘candidate substitution.’
Although the mayor did not mention what she planned to do next, it can be recalled that Sara had recently met with presidential candidate, former Sen. Ferdinand ‘Bongbong/BBM’ Marcos in Cebu, leading to speculations that it was in this meeting that both sides finalized their plan for the coming polls.
All pre-election surveys showed that a Duterte-Marcos or a Marco-Duterte tandem would be nearly unbeatable come election day as their combined number would be over 50 percent compared to those of their opponents.