Who will sit as Davao City mayor while Duterte is detained in The Hague?

It is up to the Department of the Interior and Local Government to say who will exercise the functions of mayor of Davao City while former President Rodrigo Duterte is detained in The Hague, the Commission on Elections said on Tuesday.

Duterte was proclaimed the winner of the mayoral race in Davao City, defeating his former Secretary of the Cabinet, Karlo Nograles. However, he is detained on crimes against humanity charges in the International Criminal Court prison in connection with the killings under his administration's war on drugs.

“We’ll leave that to the DILG,” Laudiangco told reporters in an ambush interview. 

“Ang jurisdiction po ng Commission on Elections ay i-proclaim kung sino ang nanalo sa eleksyon,” he explained. 

(The jurisdiction of the Comelec is to proclaim who won in the elections.)

Laudiangco said detained candidates may still be proclaimed as winners as long as there are no orders from the court or the Comelec to suspend their proclamation. 

“Wala po tayong natatanggap na order from any court or from the commission na hindi dapat maproclaim," Laudiangco said.

"So ang rule po natin regardless po kung si former President Duterte, lahat ng kandidato, kung walang order ng suspension of proclamation at ikaw ang nanalo, ipo-proclaim ka ng boards [of canvassers],” he added.

(We have yet to receive an order from any court or the commission that there should be no proclamation. Regardless of whether it's former President Duterte, all candidates may be proclaimed by the boards of canvassers if he or she won and there is no order to suspend the proclamation.)

Laudiangco said the physical presence of the winning candidates was not required during proclamations as the raising of hands was only “symbolic and ceremonial.” 

“We don't need the presence of the winning candidate para matuloy ang proclamation (to push through with the proclamation),” Laudiangco said.

 Earlier in the day, the Board of Canvassers in Davao City proclaimed Duterte as the winner of the mayoral race after a landslide victory with 662,630 votes. 

Rodrigo was arrested in the Philippines by local authorities on March 11, based on a warrant of arrest issued by the ICC.

He is now in the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity for the extrajudicial killings during his administration's war on drugs.

His daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, said Monday that lawyers had been discussing the next steps should he win the elections. –NB, GMA Integrated News

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