DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 15 October) – The Duterte political dynasty is transforming from “fat” to “obese” as three generations of Dutertes filed certificates of candidacy on October 7 for five key positions in the May 2025 elections.
The now frail-looking 79-year old patriarch and former President, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, had repeatedly announced his retirement from politics but is running for an 8th term as city mayor; his youngest son, Mayor Sebastian, for vice mayor; and eldest grandson and Buhangin barangay captain Omar Vincent for 2nd district Representative, just hours after his father Paolo, filed through his lawyer, his COC for a third term as 1st district Representative. On October 2, Paolo accompanied his second son, Rodrigo II (Rigo), in filing his COC for councilor of the first district.
Paolo’s wife, January, is an incumbent councilor, representing the association of barangay chairs in the city.
At the national level, Duterte’s first daughter, Sara, is Vice President until June 30, 2028.
The Dutertes are also endorsing the newly-established Pwersa ng Pilipinong Pandagat (PPP) party list whose first nominee is Harold Rodriguez Duterte, allegedly a relative. Tarpaulins of the PPP with Duterte’s face or the faces of the Dutertes are displayed prominently along the city’s highways and bridges.
By the end of Mayor Sebastian’s term on June 30, 2025, the Dutertes would have ruled as mayor of this city for 34 years — the patriarch for 22 years, Sara for nine years and Sebastian for three.
Since 1988, the first local election after the Marcos (Sr.) dictatorship was toppled by People Power two years earlier, there was only one mayor who was not a Duterte: Benjamin de Guzman, Duterte’s vice mayor from 1995 to 1998, was mayor from 1998 to 2001. He sought reelection in 2001 but was defeated by Duterte.
Duterte could not run for mayor in 1998 because he was term-limited. From 1998 to 2001, he served as representative of the 1st congressional district but returned as mayor in 2001, was term-limited again by 2010, served as vice mayor from 2010 to 2013, returned as mayor in 2013 and by 2016 was elected President, the first Mindanawon to lead the nation.
Four generations of Dutertes have ruled Davao. Vicente Duterte was Governor of the undivided Davao from 1959 to 1965. It would take 21 years for another Duterte – his eldest son Rodrigo – to emerge in the political arena, via an appointment in 1986 as OIC Vice Mayor after the ouster of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. In 1988, Rodrigo was elected city mayor, a post he would hold for 22 years.
Duterte’s 2025 run for the mayoralty is his eighth. He has not been defeated in any electoral exercise since 1988. His three children with Elizabeth Zimmerman have not experienced defeat at the polls since 2007 and his eldest grandson’s entry into politics in 2023 was a breeze: he ran unopposed as barangay chair of Buhangin Proper and is giving up that post in favor of a congressional seat in the second district. In the third congressional district, the Dutertes are fielding long-time ally Isidro Ungab.
The only Duterte child who has not joined the political arena is Veronica, his daughter with partner Honeylet. Veronica is 20 years old.
‘Thin,’ ‘Fat,’ ‘Obese’
The 1987 Constitution provides under Section 26 of the Declaration of Principles and State Policies, that the state “shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”
The dynasty-dominated Congress, however, has yet to pass an anti-dynasty law.
Dr. Ronald Mendoza, then Dean of the Ateneo de Manila University’s School of Government (now Education Undersecretary), defined political dynasty as “a family that has successfully retained political power by maintaining control over one or several elective positions over successive generations.”
Mendoza described dynasties as “thin” and “fat.”
Thin dynasties, he said, refer to those whose members succeed each other in office while fat dynasties refer to those that have more than two clan members simultaneously holding public posts.
He pointed out that based on the data they gathered on the winners of the 2019 elections, “fat dynasties continued to expand and many became obese.”
Shortly after the 2019 elections, Mendoza said “Clearly, political clans have found a way around term limits, by fielding more family members in power—giving rise to more fat political dynasties.”
He said this became possible because other reforms intended to be implemented along with political term limits, such as the anti-dynasty law and political party reforms, “were not successfully implemented since the 1987 Constitution was crafted.”
The introduction of term limits, he noted, “was not able to meet its avowed objective of regulating political dynasties in the country because of the failure to introduce other ancillary reforms (notably an anti-dynasty law) mandated by the charter.”
Duterte, Duterte-Duterte, Duterte-Duterte-Duterte
From 1986 to 2007, there was only one Duterte in Davao City politics: Rodrigo, a lawyer and former prosecutor. The year 2007 gave birth to a “fat” Duterte dynasty with Rodrigo taking his sixth oath as mayor on June 30 with then 29-year old daughter Sara, a lawyer, as vice mayor, apparently to prepare her for the mayoralty when he reached his term limit again in 2010.
By November 2007, there would be three Dutertes in public office: his eldest son Paolo, a businessman, was elected barangay chair of Catalunan Grande and joined the City Council as representative of the association of barangay chairs in 2008.
From 2007 to 2022 – the Dutertes ruled as mayor and vice mayor, although Vice Mayor Paolo resigned on December 25, 2017, and was succeeded by Council Majority Leader Bernard Al-ag who is now challenging Sebastian for Vice Mayor.
Michael Henry Yusingco, a senior research fellow of the Ateneo Policy Center had earlier noted that the “over-dominance of political dynasties has undermined the electoral process by making genuine political competition virtually impossible. Equity of the incumbent, name recall, and patronage politics all make the hold of dynastic politicians on power almost unbreakable.”
Yusingco warned that the “unabated expansion” of political dynasties augurs the decay of democracy in the Philippines “because their domination of the electoral cycle stifles the general public’s access to opportunities for public service. Citizens who do not have political pedigrees are severely disadvantaged when competing in electoral contests.”
The expansion of political dynasties, he said, “simply cannot be left unchecked” because “if they become morbidly obese, this could be fatal to democracy in the Philippines.”
In a pre-election forum at the Ateneo dJulhankee, Professor of Political Science and International Studies at the Dela Salle University, narrated that in his study of pol dynasties in Congress, “there is a greater opportunity that you will be succeeded by your relative because you are the one who preserves your power… This is the result of the incumbency advantage, once you’ve stayed long enough in a particular position you get to have the benefit of the resources available to an incumbent,” he said.
But Teehankee stressed that by the law of nature, “there will always be a rise and fall” of dynasties. A dynasty can be toppled by another dynasty, he said.
Duterte vs Nograles
The undefeated Dutertes are being challenged in the 2025 polls by a returning dynasty: the Nograleses. Rodrigo Duterte’s political nemesis was Prospero Nograles, who served five terms as first district representative and was Speaker of the House of Representatives – the first Mindanawon Speaker — from 2008 to 2010. Nograles challenged Duterte for the mayoralty in 1992, Duterte’s mayoralty bet De Guzman in 1998 and Duterte’s daughter Sara in 2010, but lost in all three attempts.
Nograles lost the mayoralty to Sara in 2010 but his eldest son Karlo Alexei (Karlo), a lawyer, won the congressional seat he vacated, and served for three consecutive terms until 2019. Karlo’s younger brother, Jericho Jonas (Koko), joined him in Congress in 2016 as Pwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) party-list representative. In 2019, the PBA earned another term with Koko as representative but in 2022, his sister, Margarita Ignacia (Migs), a lawyer, represented the PBA.
The 48-year old Karlo is challenging the 79-year old Duterte patriarch for mayor, while the 34-year old Migs is challenging the 49-year old Paolo for 1st district representative. The Nograles siblings filed their COCs morning of October 8, the last day of filing. The Dutertes filed theirs a day earlier.
The Nograleses have held the post of 1st district Representative for 24 years: Prospero for 15 years (1989 to 1992, 1995 to 1998, and 2001 to 2010) and Karlo for nine years (2010 to 2019) while the Dutertes will have completed nine years by June 30, 2025: Rodrigo for three years (1998 to 1991) and Paolo for six (2019 to 2025).
Prospero’s first attempt in politics was to represent the first district in Congress. He lost in the 1987 election to Duterte’s high school classmate, Jesus Dureza but filed an electoral protest and won, taking over from Dureza in mid-1989.
The bitter rivalry between Duterte and Nograles ended in November 2015 when the Nograles patriarch and Karlo declared support for Duterte’s Presidential bid.
Duterte appointed Karlo to be his Cabinet Secretary from 2018 to 2022, but within the same period also named him Acting Presidential spokesperson, co-chair, and spokesperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), and as chair of the Civil Service Commission.
The Nograles patriarch died in May 2019.
Karlo told reporters after filing his COC that he decided to run for mayor to let the Dabawenyos know “how it is to have a choice, to win your hearts and make you feel how it is to have a chance, and to earn your support so I can lead you to the change that you so deserve.”
The decision of Nograles’ children to file their COCs to challenge the Dutertes in 2025 ended nearly nine years of alliance that started in November 2015.
Early this year, Paolo alleged that Migs was behind the collection of signatures for People’s Initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution, triggering the birth of “Hakbang ng Maisug,” which held rallies opposing People’s Initiative. Migs denied the allegation. The Commission on Elections, however, suspended the PI proceedings on January 29 by suspending the acceptance of signature sheets.
Although running as Independent candidates, the Nograles siblings are backed by political parties allied against the Dutertes.
In his press conference on October 6, Duterte’s response to a query on the possibility of a Nograles running for mayor, was: “You should not begrudge the Nograleses if they also want the distinct honor of being in public office, congressman, mayor, or what else. We do not have the monopoly of ambition.”
Duterte vs Nograles, Garcia, Lopez
Rodrigo Duterte’s candidacy for Mayor in 1988 and subsequent elections was backed by the Almendrases, Garcias and Lopezes who were allies of Marcos Sr.
The Almendras patriarch died in 1995. The last Almendras in public office was Councilor Alexis, from 2001 until 2004.
The Lopez patriarch, a lawyer who hailed from the 3rd district, was councilor form 1956 to 1963, Vice Mayor from 1964 to 1967, Mayor from 1968 to 1971 and 1981 to 1986, and 3rd district Representative from 1992 until his death in 1997. He was succeeded in the House of Representatives by his son Ruy Elias, a lawyer, who served from 1998 to 2007.
Lopez broke away from Duterte in 2007 when Duterte fielded his daughter Sara for Vice Mayor. Lopez ran for 3rd district Representative in 2010 but lost to Duterte-backed Ungab. He ran for mayor in 2022 initially against Sara but Sara withdrew to run for Vice President and was substituted by Sebastian. Lopez lost.
Lopez is now running for 3rd district Representative under Marcos Jr.’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), against Ungab.
The Garcias have represented the 2nd congressional district even during the time of Marcos Sr.
In post-EDSA politics, the 2nd congressional district has been represented by the Garcia Dynasty since 1992: Manuel from 1992 to 2001, Manuel’s son Vincent from 2001 to 2010 and 2019 to 2025, Manuel’s daughter Mylene from 2010 to 2019 (Mylene Garcia-Albano is now Ambassador to Japan).
By 2025, Rep. Vincent Garcia will have ensured the family’s hold on District 2 for 33 years from 1992.
Vincent is not running in 2025. In his stead, the Garcias are fielding the 34-year old Councilor Javier “Javi” Garcia Campos who is running under the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP). Campos filed his COC on October 7, accompanied by Karlo Nograles.
Karlo is related to the Garcias through his wife, Marga whose father is a Garcia-Montemayor. Karlo is also a distant relative of the Garcias through the Castillo side of his father.
Hours after Javi filed his COC, Buhangin barangay chair Omar Duterte filed his for the same post.
The Garcias and Lopezes and the Al-ags who supported the Duterte patriarch in previous elections are now fielding and supporting candidates challenging the Dutertes.
In the 3rd district, Wilberto Al-ag, brother of Karlo Nograles’ running mate, Bernard, are challenging Duterte’s bet, Ungab, who is seeking a sixth term. Al-ag is running under Lakas-CMD against Ungab and Lopez.
The combined votes for Al-ag and Lopez in the third district, Garcia Campos in the second and Nograles in the first, as well as votes for other candidates challenging the Dutertes, will not make the 2025 elections easy for the Dutertes.
“Like asking Dracula to guard the blood bank”
Teehankee said a dynasty can also be toppled by a non-dynasty like Kaka Bag-ao of Dinagat who won the gubernatorial post in 2019 but lost in the 2022 elections.
A dynasty can also be defeated, he said, through inter-familial competition, such as the Binays in Makati or Jinggoy Estrada and JV Ejercito who both lost in the 2019 polls but won in 2022.
Teehankee said the country will never see the end of dynasties “unless we address the systemic and structural roots.”
He said he hopes the anti-dynasty provision in the 1987 Constitution will be legislated by Congress even as he asks: “How do you expect a house full of political clans and dynasties to pass an anti-dynasty law? It’s just like asking Dracula to guard the blood bank.”
Dynasties are here to stay
For the Duterte patriarch, however, dynasties are here to stay.
Noticing that he was reading the family name Matugas several times in his prepared remarks at the inauguration of the Siargao Island Sports and Tourism Complex in Dapa, Surigao del Norte on November 6, 2021, then President Duterte paused and said “Puro Matugas na man ni tanan” (These are all Matugas).
But Duterte said he meant no offense because “pareho-pareho man ta” (we are the same). He said the proposed laws banning political dynasties will never be passed by a Congress dominated by dynasties, that political dynasties have become the “political practice” and are here to stay.
“Unless you change the whole picture, unless you change the Constitution, unless you change the culture, puwede pa siguro. Pero og ani lang gihapon (But if we remain like this), we will have dynasties,” said Duterte.
Dynasties pose a problem, he said, when the family controlling an area monopolizes businesses, kills their rivals and in some cases, engages in the illegal drugs trade.
Duterte said it was the people’s clamor for his family to run to continue his programs.
It is this same “public clamor” that Duterte invoked in his press conference on October 6 on why he would run again for mayor.
Sara told MindaNews in a sit-down interview in August 2011, on her first term as mayor, that she had always been asked about political dynasties since she entered politics in 2007. “I always say, well, we have an advantage because of the family name but it is not our fault that my grandfather was a governor and the mayor is my father. But true, we have an advantage because of the name recall. Politics in the Philippines is like that. The name recall has an advantage but on the other side, there is an election so people are free to choose who they want for that post. We put ourselves out there as one of the candidates. There is an election. That is not appointment.”
Since October 8, the talk of the city has been on the candidates for 2025. In jeepney, taxi and trike rides, in offices and in online chat groups, the common thread is that the Duterte patriarch was left with no choice but to file his COC for mayor because Sara is still Vice President, he did not endorse Paolo for mayor in 2016 and in succeeding elections, and Sebastian’s poor performance as mayor will make it easy for a Nograles to win the mayoralty.
Duterte loyalists welcome the return of “Tatay Digong” in City Hall but acknowledge they are concerned about his age and health condition.
“A battle of Davao’s elite families and a proxy war”
For Maria Victoria “Mags” Maglana, a governance, peace and development worker who challenged Paolo Duterte in the 2022 elections for 1st district Representative, “Five Dutertes — three generations; father, two sons, and two grandsons — running in the 2025 elections is not about ensuring what is good for the people of Davao. It’s obviously to hold on to power and serve their family’s interests.”
“Remember when Duterte campaigned against oligarchs in the 2016 elections? Isn’t Davao under five Dutertes unabashedly a localized version of an oligarchy — a small group brazenly dominating the political and economic landscape?” she asked on October 7, after the Dutertes filed their COCs.
Maglana filed her COC for 1st district Representative afternoon of October 8, as an Independent candidate.
Maglana told reporters after filing her COC that the 2025 election is “shaping up to be a battle of Davao’s elite families and a proxy war,” noting that on the surface, it seems like a fight between the Duterte camp versus the camp of Nograles, Garcia and Lopez.
“Pero alam din natin na ang political reconfigurations na nagaganap ay paghahanda sa showdown ng mga Duterte at Marcos sa 2028” (But we also know the political reconfigurations are happening in preparation for the showdown between Duterte and Marcos in 2028), referring to the Presidential election in May 2028.
Maglana asked who will look out for the people of Davao if the elite families are fighting each other “to gain a larger slice of the political-economic and social standing pie?”
“Let those of us who are able, who have a vision, and the courage to try and truly change things based on that which will bring common good to the many, stand and magsama-sama (come together). Huwag na tayong magpagamit, biyakin na natin ang ating mga (Let us not allow ourselves to be used, let us break our) political glass ceilings. Let a new generation of leaders, mga babae at lalaki — supported and held accountable by women and men citizens of diverse age, ethnicities, abilities, and orientations — lead us as we work on the Davao, on the Philippines, of the 21st century.”
Dr. Jean Lindo, 3rd party nominee of Gabriela, said “What a dynasty! People should reject the dynasty.”
Elite reproduction of dynasties
Nuelle Duterte, daughter of Rodrigo Duterte’s brother, Emmanuel, said of her kin who filed their COCs: “I think they find politics easy because they don’t have to do anything that requires brains or skill. It just requires them to have a famous name that makes people fawn all over them.”
“Will they actually do anything resembling public service? Doubtful. Will they continue to enrich themselves? For sure. Will the younger generation follow the bloody footsteps of the former president? Only time will tell,” she told MindaNews.
The Duterte patriarch is facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC) due to his bloody war on drugs. Four days after he filed his COC for mayor, retired police officer Royina Garma told the House of Representatives Quad Committee investigating extrajudicial killings, illegal drugs nad POGOs, that Duterte orchestrated the nationwide implementation of his bloody “war on drugs” by replicating the Davao template, a system involving “payments and rewards” ranging from P20,000 to a million pesos.
If the five Dutertes win in May 2025, Davao City will have a Mayor Duterte, Vice Mayor Duterte, 1st district Representative Duterte, 2nd District Representative Duterte, Councilor Duterte and another Councilor Duterte, as January will represent the barangay chairs’ association until the next barangay elections scheduled on December 1, 2025.
Three generations of Dutertes from what is emerging as two Duterte dynasties: the Rodrigo Duterte Dynasty of Rodrigo and children Paolo, Sara and Sebastian, and the Paolo Duterte Dynasty of Paolo, sons Omar Vincent and Rodrigo II, and wife January.
Teehankee said: “I call this ‘elite reproduction.’ In this case, the natural branching out of a political dynasty into the next generation and consanguinity.”
‘Better good’ vs ‘lesser evil’
Romeo Cabarde, Coordinator of the Ateneo Public Interest and Legal Advocacy Center (APILA), said some may welcome the filing of COCs of the Nograleses as a challenge to the Duterte monopoly but “we must not forget that both the Dutertes and the Nograleses are products of the same political system that has allowed dynasties to thrive.”
Cabarde said the choice Dabawenyos will face in 2025 “may be between the ‘lesser evil,’ but it is far from the transformative politics that the country needs. The real goal is to go beyond political dynasties altogether, aiming for a system where choices are no longer defined by family name, but by genuine competence, integrity, and commitment to public service.”
In the end, he said, the Nograles-Duterte faceoff “might capture the nation’s attention, but it remains a symptom of a deeper, more systemic problem.”
“Until we break free from the grip of political dynasties, the Filipino people will continue to face limited options, trapped in a cycle where the better good is elusive, and the choice often lies between lesser evils,” Cabarde said. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
