Can Rodrigo Duterte serve as Davao mayor from ICC detention?
Legal experts question the legitimacy of a mayoral oath taken in international detention – and warn it could set a dangerous precedent
The post he won is no ordinary local office. It is the mayorship of Davao City, the southern Philippine metropolis that has long served as the Duterte family’s political stronghold – a position he held for more than two decades before ascending to the presidency in 2016.
But despite his electoral triumph, Duterte’s return to Davao’s city hall remains far from certain.
His victory in May’s midterm election has triggered a surreal legal and diplomatic conundrum in the Philippines: can a man imprisoned in an international detention facility legally assume the office of mayor?
A legal impossibility?
The answer to the quandary, according to legal experts, is almost certainly no.