Duterte-Nograles rivalry heats up in Davao City campaign kick-off

DAVAO CITY —Let the games begin. This call once signaled the start of ancient Roman games, complete with bread and circuses, if not blood and gore. On Friday, it might have echoed just as resonantly in this premier city of Mindanao, as House Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr. kicked off his local campaign to wrest the mayoralty from incumbent Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. A banner that reads “Change We Need, Change We Must," is displayed at the entrance of the classy village where Nograles resides—a first indication that his mayoralty campaign is set to hit the ground running. On the first day of the local election campaign season, the Speaker’s home is bustling with activity. His supporters are readying the campaign posters to be set up in the city’s key areas. Earlier, on Thursday night, he met with his campaign team hours before they were to execute their plans—the result of months-long preparations—to win the city’s three districts with a total of more than 948,000 voters. 'He will have to call me Sir' There is something distinctive about Nograles’ campaign to win the May 10 elections: it is expected to revive the long-running feud between Nograles and the Duterte family led by Mayor Duterte, who is perceived to be Nograles’ bitter rival. But this year, Speaker Nograles will not go against Mayor Duterte himself, but against his daughter Vice Mayor Sara Duterte who is running to succeed her father as mayor. In turn, the elder Duterte, whose third consecutive term ends this year, is also running to replace his daughter as vice mayor. “It is not I who is challenging her [Sara Duterte]. It is she who is going against me," said Nograles in an interview with GMANews.TV. While Nograles denied having any tiff with Mayor Duterte, his tone suggested otherwise. “I do not know why that guy is picking on me. He cannot accept the fact that I am Speaker. He refuses to recognize me as House Speaker. He only calls me Congressman. If I win as mayor and he wins as vice mayor, he will have to call me ‘Sir.’ I do not know if he can take that," Nograles said. Nograles served as congressman for Davao City’s first district for three terms. His third term ends in June this year, and he has decided to continue his political career by targeting the city’s top elective post. On the other side of town, Duterte’s camp is also busy preparing their own opening salvo of what promises to be a heated campaign. His supporters are busily talking with local leaders to mass up support for the father-and-daughter tandem. Mayor Duterte, who is set to hold his proclamation rally on Friday evening, likewise denied having any rift with his daughter’s rival. “We are not feuding. I just don’t like him [Nograles]. He is not trustworthy; he has no word of honor," the elder Duterte told GMANews.TV. Power swaps Our Spanish legacy has a term for it, applied to formal ballroom dances popular among the old aristocracy: the rigodon, where you switch dance partners and weave your steps gracefully from one position to the next. For Davao City politics, it might as well be called “the power switch." Sara Duterte, for example, is running for mayor to replace his father’s current post. Mayor Duterte, in turn, is running for vice mayor to replace hers. The scenario is almost the same for the House Speaker. Because Nograles is near the end of his third consecutive term in the Lower House, he is fielding his son, Karlo, to take over his position. Karlo is going against Jocelyn Duterte, the mayor’s sister. Political analysts say that swapping elective posts within members of a political family is a common practice in Philippine politics. For their families to retain clout in their areas of influence, public officials would rather be “demoted" to lower posts than leave the political ring altogether, according to a Newsbreak report. The 1987 Constitution allows mayors and congressmen only three consecutive terms, with three years per term. But local officials have found ways to circumvent this provision. The most popular is to have some other member of the family (spouse, sibling, grown-up child) be elected to the position, while the outgoing official gets some other elective or appointive position to break the three-term limit, with the option of retaking the original position later. Rodrigo Duterte, for example, was first elected Davao City mayor in 1988, and was re-elected in 1992 and again in 1995. After the three successive terms, he ran and won as congressman for the city’s first district. He ran for mayor again in 2001, and was re-elected for two more terms in 2004 and 2007. Now he is running for vice mayor. Speaker Nograles is another example. He represented Davao City’s first district in Congress for two non-consecutive terms, 1989-1992 and 1995-1998. He lost to Duterte in his mayoralty bid in 1998. Then he ran again for congressman in 2001, and has held the post for three consecutive terms. Now he is seeking the mayoralty post. Iron fist On Friday, Nograles vowed that should he win, he would reform the policies implemented by Mayor Duterte, who is known for his tough anti-crime stance. “His policy is one-dimensional. It focuses only on peace and order. If I win, I’ll also focus on building infrastructure, social services, attracting businesses, and health," Nograles said. But Duterte contradicted this. “Nograles must be blind. If he will look around, if he will spend time to look at the heavens, he can see that the traffic system is there, the sanitation landfill is there…," he said. Duterte’s disciplinarian image also seemed to be lauded and accepted by a substantial number of Davao City residents. “Mahihirapan talaga si Nograles kalabanin ang mga Duterte kasi maayos ang Davao City dahil kay mayor (Nograles will find it hard to go against the Dutertes because Mayor Duterte brought order to Davao City)," said a taxi driver who declined to be named. “Gusto namin yung matapang, yun bang may political will (We want someone who is fearless, someone who has political will)," said an inn-keeper who also asked to remain anonymous. Among the strict measures Duterte imposed were the bans on smoking and firecrackers. During the last New Year celebrations, Davao City recorded only one firecracker-related injury. Ampatuans An undaunted Mayor Duterte was also known to have kept the powerful Ampatuan clan in check, although only on his own turf. Leading members of the clan were implicated in the mass killing of 57 people in Maguindanao last November 2009. In 2008, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) reported that Duterte had warned various clans in Mindanao, not just the Ampatuans, against misbehaving in Davao City. The PCIJ report said the mayor scoffed at younger Ampatuans who used sirens when driving around this city. When three Ampatuan youths were arrested in 2006 for illegal possession of firearms, Duterte reportedly said, “Davao City is not your kingdom. If you want to show off, you better do it in your place." But Nograles questioned the PCIJ report, adding that it was Duterte who was on friendly terms with the Ampatuans. The Duterte family used to belong to the administration party Lakas-Kampi-CMD, where Nograles is vice chairman. The party expelled the Ampatuans a few days after the November 23 massacre. Vigilante killings With Duterte’s tough campaign against lawbreakers comes the one ugly blemish on his reputation—his alleged tolerance of extrajudicial killings by local death squads of suspected criminals. Last year, the Commission on Human Rights looked into the killings of suspected drug dealers and petty criminals—which totals 814 victims—allegedly staged by these death squad with Duterte’s blessings. The New York-based Human Rights Watch also said police officers and government officials were responsible for the summary killings. But Duterte has repeatedly denied any involvement. During Friday’s interview, Nograles cited allegations about Duterte’s links to the death squads. “We are running against the Dutertes, who have a reputation for violence," he said. “Under his watch, how come no one gets arrested and convicted for the DDS’ [Davao death squad] actions," he asked, in a manner that hinted at a deep-seated feud with the mayor dating back to 1992, when Nograles lost to Duterte in his congressional bid. In 2008, the feud heated up when Duterte supposedly ordered the city government to demolish a mini-park named after the House speaker’s father and namesake, Prospero Sr. The local daily Sun.Star Davao quoted city drainage maintenance unit chief Yusop Jimlani as saying that the Public Works and Highways Department approved the demolition, and that the park was illegally constructed because it had no building permit. Previous allies But on Friday, Duterte said Nograles’ hostile statements against him were all about politics. “It’s election people, so expect a lot of garbage," he said. The mayor added that he and Nograles used to be allies when they supported former President Corazon Aquino in toppling Marcos rule in 1986. “When we were supporting President Aquino, we were allies. How come Nograles wasn’t criticizing me back then?" Duterte said. The first day of the local campaign period might have drawn to a close without the Nograles and Duterte camps answering each other’s rhetorics to everyone’s satisfaction. But they still have the rest of the 45-day period to convince the Davao electorate that they can finally clean up the dirt that seems to pervade local governance, year in and year out.—JV, GMANews.TV