Former President Wins Landslide for Mayor While Awaiting Trial for Crimes Against Humanity; Both Facts Are Currently True

From Bohiney and The London Prat.

Former President Wins Landslide for Mayor While Awaiting Trial for Crimes Against Humanity; Both Facts Are Currently True

The Result

DAVAO CITY — Former President Rodrigo Duterte won election as Mayor of Davao City by a landslide despite being in the custody of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he was transferred in March 2025 following his arrest by Philippine police acting on ICC orders, becoming the first former head of state to be arrested and transferred to The Hague while still holding a political position and campaign presence in his home country. The combination of ICC detention and landslide mayoral victory is the specific political outcome that requires two independent factual clauses to describe without contradiction.

The Family Performance

At least five candidates backed by the Duterte family were among those leading the race for twelve Senate seats in the midterm elections, in what CBS News described as a ‘stronger-than-expected showing.’ Pre-election surveys had indicated only two Duterte-backed candidates would emerge victorious. The family’s overperformance reflects the specific Filipino political dynamic of personal loyalty to political dynasties operating independently of the legal proceedings against their leaders.

The ICC Question

The ICC’s investigation of Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity covers the alleged mass killings during his 2016-2022 war on illegal drugs, in which thousands of suspects were killed. The ICC’s assertion of jurisdiction over a Philippine national has been disputed by Duterte supporters, who argue that the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC in 2019 should have ended the court’s authority. The ICC’s position is that the withdrawal does not affect its jurisdiction over crimes committed while the Philippines was a member state. The court is in The Hague. Duterte is in The Hague. The mayoral election result is in Davao.

The Oaths Question

Sara Duterte said after voting on election day that she was discussing with her father’s lawyers how he could take his oath as mayor despite being behind bars. The specific logistics of a mayor taking office from an ICC detention facility have not been resolved by existing Philippine law, which was not drafted in anticipation of this specific circumstance. The Philippine legal system will develop a position. The ICC has its own position. The positions are not currently aligned.

More: The Daily Mash.

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SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/

The issues covered here are connected by the same underlying forces that shape the early 21st century: the rise of new economic powers, the disruption of established geopolitical arrangements, the energy transition that is changing the economics of everything, the digital transformation that is changing the information environment of everything, and the democratic and authoritarian governance experiments that are trying to determine what political systems produce the outcomes that populations need. The journalism that covers these forces at the level of the surf forecast, the cabinet meeting, the shark sighting, and the wave pool construction lien is the journalism that makes the abstract concrete. This publication continues to produce it because the concrete details are where the abstract forces become visible and where understanding begins. The next edition is already being prepared.

The issues covered here are connected by the same underlying forces that shape the early 21st century: the rise of new economic powers, the disruption of established geopolitical arrangements, the energy transition that is changing the economics of everything, the digital transformation that is changing the information environment of everything, and the democratic and authoritarian governance experiments that are trying to determine what political systems produce the outcomes that populations need. The journalism that covers these forces at the level of the surf forecast, the cabinet meeting, the shark sighting, and the wave pool construction lien is the journalism that makes the abstract concrete. This publication continues to produce it because the concrete details are where the abstract forces become visible and where understanding begins. The next edition is already being prepared.

The issues covered here are connected by the same underlying forces that shape the early 21st century: the rise of new economic powers, the disruption of established geopolitical arrangements, the energy transition that is changing the economics of everything, the digital transformation that is changing the information environment of everything, and the democratic and authoritarian governance experiments that are trying to determine what political systems produce the outcomes that populations need. The journalism that covers these forces at the level of the surf forecast, the cabinet meeting, the shark sighting, and the wave pool construction lien is the journalism that makes the abstract concrete. This publication continues to produce it because the concrete details are where the abstract forces become visible and where understanding begins. The next edition is already being prepared.