Duterte father and daughter team up against Nograles

By GRACE S. UDDIN
Davao Today

DAVAO CITY— The much-awaited showdown between Davao’s two fiercest political opponents begins as Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and daughter Sara Duterte formally declared a team up against House Speaker Prospero Nograles’ bid for mayor in the city.

Vice Mayor Sara Duterte, who runs for mayor in the city, filed both her certificate of candidacy and that of her father at 11:30 am at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) November 30, a day before the deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacies for local candidates’ in the upcoming the 2010 elections.

Vice Mayor Sara Duterte fills up the certificate of candidacy form. (davaotoday.com photo)

Sara will run against Nograles, her father’s political rival, whose term as congressman of the city’s first district is about to end.

The elder Duterte, Sara’s father and long time mayor of Davao City, will run as Sara’s running mate. Duterte will run against former Davao City Mayor Benjamin de Guzman, a former ally he, Duterte, once helped win against Nograles in the mayoralty race in the 1998 elections.

“It’s the first time that I will face Nograles,” Sara said. “I do not think he is the new leader he was talking about,” said Sara, reacting to Nograles’ comments that Davao City needs someone with a “new style of leadership.”

Sara called Nograles ‘a traditional politician,’ who has not changed at all despite his years in politics. “He only had more money,” she said.

Davao City Vice Mayor "Inday" Sara Duterte-Carpio holds the copies of her Certificate of Candidacy and that of her father after filing them on Monday. With her father as her running mate, the younger Duterte is running for mayor against House Speaker Prospero Nograles. Her brother Paolo Duterte and husband Mansy accompanied her to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office. (photo by Keith Bacongco / AKP Images)

On Saturday, Nograles announced his candidacy at the house of slain journalist Ferdie ‘Batman’ Lintuan in NHA Subdivision in Ma-a to remind everybody that ‘justice has not been served’ on the slain journalist. Lintuan was closely identified with Nograles and had criticized Duterte on air. ‘Bahala na si Batman’ (It’s up to Batman), Nograles’ said, referring to his chances of winning the elections.

Sara, however, did not find the statement amusing.

“Batman is already dead,” Sara said. “I do not like including names of people who are already dead.”

She said that if Nograles was referring to the cartoon character, the mayorship is a “serious” matter to be taken lightly.

“The mayorship is not fiction,” she said, “This is a reality.”

Sara said that it was only Nograles who linked the mayor to the death of Lintuan and that, it has not been proven yet that the mayor was involved. She said she knew she would be running for mayor the moment she sat as the city’s vice mayor. She said she does not consider Nograles a threat.

“I haven’t seen his strength so far,” she said, reacting to Nograles’ statement that he will focus on his strengths and not on the weaknesses of his enemy to win.

Sara was earlier told by her mother to avoid exchanging harsh words with people older than herself, like Nograles.

Vice Mayor Sara Duterte greets supporters. (davaotoday.com photo)

Mayor Duterte did not show up at the Comelec office during the filing of candidacy. Minutes after filing her certificate of candidacy (CoC),

Sara was handed down the mayor’s certificate of candidacy (CoC), which she filed on his behalf, minutes after filing her CoC. Sara said between the choices to run for vice mayor or for congressman in the Davao City first district, the mayor had opted the former because the “people still wanted him to be around the city.”

Davao City Councilor Mabel Acosta, a close ally of Duterte, will run for Congress against Nograles’ son Karlo in the Davao City first district.

Those who accompanied Sara in the filing of her certificate of candidacy included her brother Paolo Duterte, the chair of the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC), her husband Lawyer Mansy Carpio; Lawyer Mylene Garcia who will run for the House of Representative in the second district, Congressman Isidro Ungab who seeks reelection as representative for the third district and several councilors under Duterte’s political group Hugpong. (Grace S. Uddin/davaotoday.com)

12 Comments to “Duterte father and daughter team up against Nograles”

1. moriele says:

   December 3, 2009 at 2:34 pm

   It very sad to note that trapos are all around especially political dynasty. These people think they are only have the knowledge to manage lgus or the country i mean national level. like gma, she think she is good but she is bad and ugly. Gilood lang ko.
2. In Davao, Duterte Father and Daughter Team Up Against Nograles - Bulatlat says:

   December 4, 2009 at 4:50 am

   [...] By GRACE S. UDDIN Davao Today [...]
3. kayna angara says:

   December 4, 2009 at 5:13 pm

   Political Dynasty is everywhere in this country! just like the DYs in Isabela!

   They thought of themselves as “lords”! By the way, these dynasties did not do any good! once in power, they become the “burden” of society!

   No comment..
4. Boyet says:

   December 4, 2009 at 6:10 pm

   I think this is good as long as Inday Sara can maintain how his father manage and serve the people of davao city.Its doesn’t matter its a clan or what the critics calls it. As long they showed a worthy person on this service. Keep it up i support the Duterte.
5. BongV says:

   December 5, 2009 at 12:53 pm

   Political Dynasty vs political dynasty.

   Kanya-kanyang ampatuan lang yan.
6. news balita says:

   December 5, 2009 at 8:36 pm

   The Dutertes in Davao are an exception. If Sarah Duterte can duplicate the kind of leadership her father uses in managing Davao City, we should be happy there are two Dutertes in Davao City Hall.
7. fenny says:

   December 5, 2009 at 8:55 pm

   I am not a resident of Davao City but I visit the place often. Before the reign of Duterte I did not feel safe but now I can go around the city without a the sligthest feeling of fear. Peaceful. I am afraid that terror may reign if the Dutertes are out. LONG LIVE THE DUTERTES!!!
8. Andrew says:

   December 6, 2009 at 12:27 am

   The “feel good” talk about Davao sounds nice. But the rise of vigilantism is no different from the lawlessness of warlord-ism.

   Sales of drugs are an indicator of a social ill – poverty, of society’s failure to address the inequality between the rich and the poor.

   A civilized society does NOT kill drug pushers in broad daylight with motorcycle riding gunmen. A civilized society, sends them to jail. Killing people because the law is “ineffective” is not a solution, change the law and address the inequalities.

   People raise hell about the Ampatuans killing 57 peope – that’s nothing compared to the killings in Davao – 191 killings from 1998 to 2003 alone (source: http://www.bulatlat.com/news/3-24/3-24-bloodbath.html. ). As pointed out in Carlos conde’s article:
   

   Truth be told, Davao City is a relatively safe city. But, child advocates want to know, at what price?

   The CASE convenors, in a manifesto, bewailed the acceptance by the public of extra-judicial killings and their leaders’ exploitation of this for political ends. “Lamentably,” CASE said, “the acceptance of some sectors in this kind of measure affects the morality of our society particularly concerning preservation of human life and human dignity.”

   Perhaps as a result of this tolerance by the public, the police have not made any significant headway in its investigation of the DDS – assuming that they are convinced that there is a DDS in the first place. Last week, during a city council hearing on the summary executions, city police director Conrado Laza told councilors that there is no such thing as a DDS. These killings, he said, were committed by rival gangs and rival drug dealers.

   Clarita Alia and the other woman who was at the CASE launching took exception to Laza’s statement. “How can they say that there is no DDS when my sons were threatened by these people who have connections to the police?” she said.

   The woman who wanted to know if the killings are part of President Arroyo’s policy against crime took offense at the notion that there is no DDS or that the police don’t know who these killers are. “When Duterte was running for mayor, he went to our village and promised to clean it of criminals if he was elected,” she said. “He was elected and my son died.”
9. Mike says:

   December 8, 2009 at 6:46 am

   While I do not believe that one should vote for an individual because of who he/she is related to, I believe that even those related to “big name” politicians should be given the same opportunity to run for election as others. If Sara Duterte has a vision of Davao that you agree with, vote for her. If Nograles offers what you feel to be a better alternative, vote for him. Focus on the person, not their last name. It has been my personal experience that youth offers a fresh beginning, in comparison to the even-keel, same-same, approach of the older, more experienced politician, though the gamble of youth is greater. Best of luck to both candidates; may it be a clean, non-violent election.
10. nO3L says:

    December 10, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    I live here in Davao City my whole life and I can really say that the Mayor Duterte did really made a difference in our city. The city is very safe (although crime is not really 100% insured) for most people, but not for criminals. The so-called DDS – Davao Death Squad (if really exists) cleans our city from these criminals. Those people who hates DDS are only those families that are being hunt down. Parents used to say that their children are good but still killed by DDS do not have any hard evidence. Not all of these parents know what their child are doing and who are their enemies so they will be never sure what happened. For me, the rights of these criminals (who themselves do not think for the feelings of their victims) are not as important as the safety of the majority (the people of davao). And if you may say political dynasty…if the rulers are as good as Mayor Duterte, then it is favorable to us. No problem!
11. Ian says:

    January 7, 2010 at 10:55 pm

    Duterte made davao safer than any place in phils. let us give Sarah a chance to prove her self and I hope that she can replicate her father’s legacy, we may call them trapo but they were the only politicial who can stabilize the city, they might be the dirty harry but this is the only way to remove those bad guys in the city….
12. Kenneth Crawley says:

    March 14, 2010 at 2:03 pm

    I found campaign brochures on my car today. I looked through them for safe streets and safe driving, none was there.
    I am looking for either candidate that would confiscate vehicles that drive at night without headlights and taillights and increase the risk of nighttime accidents.
    Especially the public transportation vehicles like jeepneys and tricycles.
    The vehicles would be impounded until the owners could pay the towing fee and storage fees and a small fine.
    I Would like to see the police at night increased and enforce the laws and do more that wave their arms at traffic lights.