DAVAO CITY – The administration of President Duterte still came out winner despite the upset suffered by candidates under his daughter’s Hugpong ng Pagbabago in two provinces in the Davao Region.
The upset was delivered by HNP’s rivals under the administration’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) in Davao del Norte and Davao del Sur.
In Davao del Norte, Antonio “Tonyboy” Floirendo Jr, lost his congressional bid for the province’s second district, but his arch-rival, former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, was reelected congressman in the first district.
Floirendo ran under HNP and got only 93,035 votes, against front-running Alan Dujali, Alvarez’s partymate in PDP-Laban. Dujali had 125,942 votes to bag the second-district seat..
Alvarez had a margin of more than 100,000 votes in Wednesday’s canvassing against Davao del Norte governor, Anthony del Rosario, who is on his last term. Del Rosario is Floirendo’s running mate.
Former Davao del Norte governor Rodolfo Del Rosario Jr. also lost against PDP-Laban candidate Edwin Jubahib in the gubernatorial race.
In Davao del Sur, the HNP frontrunner in the gubernatorial race, Digos City Mayor Joseph Penas, conceded to incumbent Gov. Douglas Cagas as early as Tuesday when Penas already trailed by as many as 60,000 votes in the canvassing
Cagas ran under PDP-Laban. His running mate, his son Marc, was also ahead by almost 35,000 votes to reelectionist Vice Gov. Aileen Almendras as of Tuesday.
In Davao City, the President’s three children were all proclaimed winners by Tuesday night. Reelectionist Mayor Sara Duterte got 580,058 votes against perennial running candidate Magdaleno Marcellones’s 4,270 votes.
Sara’s younger brother and running mate, Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, garnered 557,769 votes.
The eldest of the Duterte children, Paolo Duterte, had no serious contenders for the first legislative district, winning 197,024 votes.