Rodrigo Duterte, the maverick mayor of Davao City, who is also dubbed as “Dirty Harry” and “The Punisher” by its supporters, appears to be certainly become the next President of the Republic of the Philippines.
Duterte is leading the presidential elections by more than 5 million against his closest rival, Mar Roxas, the former secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Data was from COMELEC/GMA Mirror server showed that Duterte has 13,219,660 votes compared with Roxas’ 7,761,306 votes based on the partial/unofficial results as of 11:25 PM on May 9. The votes that were already counted represented 78.03 of the nationwide electoral returns.
When asked about his obvious significant lead in the election, Duterte gave a puzzling reply. He said, “Sometimes I’m victorious and the winner, sometimes there’s always losing and being sad, sometimes being sick and healthy. That is how the universe is being played every day,” during an interview with CNN Philippines.
He also said he is not monitoring the election results because he has been sleeping. He explained, “You know, a lesson in life (is) there are things beyond your control. You can’t control buying (of votes) and intimidation. We’ll just leave it up to the police.”
Duterte vowed to eliminate crime and corruption
Duterte served as Mayor of Davao City for decades and he well-known for his tough position against crime and corruption. Despite allegations of being linked to death squads and extra-judicial killings, Filipinos overwhelmingly supported his candidacy.
During his final campaign rally on Saturday, Duterte told his supporters, “If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. If you stay here, I’d kill you. If, I become the president, I tell you to stop. I will not hesitate to use the military and the police to go after drug lords, criminals including police officers na gago [silly].”
Millions of Filipinos believed that the Philippines needed Duterte— a leader with a strong will to eliminate crime and corruption.
Duterte gained Iglesia Ni Cristo’s solid vote
The Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC/Church of Christ), the influential global religious organization known for delivering a solid vote supported Duterte’s candidacy. The Church does not reveal the number of its membership or its voting population. Some people estimated that the Church has more or less two million registered voters.
All the presidential, vice presidential and some senatorial candidates in the Philippines visited and discussed their political platforms to INC Executive Minister Bro. Eduardo Manalo to gain the support of the entire Church.
In a previous interview with Eagle News, Duterte said “Because the faithful believe in the decision of the elders, and the elders naman decide on what is good for the country. They will never decide on what is bad for the country, so mahalaga para sa akin (this is important for me).”
The Iglesia Ni Cristo also supported the candidacy of Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong Marcos, Jr. for vice president.
Based on the partial, unofficial results, Marcos is leading the vice-presidential race with 11,863,352 votes compared with Congresswoman Leni Robredo’s 11,431,278 votes.
Meanwhile, Senator Grace Poe conceded her candidacy after partial/unofficial results showed that Duterte is leading the race with a huge margin. She stated that is clear that he was chosen by the majority of the Filipino people
