Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, currently detained by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity, has secured a resounding victory in the Davao City mayoral election, according to partial results released on Monday, May 12, 2025.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec), as reported by local media, confirmed that Duterte garnered 405,000 votes, compared to just 49,000 for his nearest rival, with over 60% of ballots counted.
Rodrigo Roa Duterte, also known as Rody or Digong, was born on March 28, 1945, in Maasin. A member of the PDP–Laban party, he is one of the most polarizing figures in Philippine politics. He previously served as mayor of Davao across multiple terms: from 1988 to 1998, 2001 to 2010, and again from 2013 to 2016. His leadership was marked by a hardline security policy and numerous allegations of extrajudicial killings, which he publicly defended.
Elected president in 2016, Duterte led the country until 2022, during which he continued his authoritarian approach—most notably through a highly controversial and violent war on drugs, now at the center of the ICC’s case against him.