It’s final: Duterte skipping proclamation

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – He’s made up his mind: incoming president Rodrigo Duterte is skipping his proclamation today at the House of Representatives following the termination of canvassing last week.

Duterte told reporters on Saturday night at the Hotel Elena here that he would only travel to Manila on June 30 for his inauguration as the 16th president of the republic.

There were reports that efforts mainly of his lawyer and incoming justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre proved futile in convincing Duterte to attend the proclamation ceremonies. 

Duterte said he might send his lawyers instead since he never attended a single proclamation in the more than eight times he was elected mayor of Davao City and once each as vice mayor and 1st District representative of the city.

“I’m not attending any proclamation. I’ve never attended any proclamation in my life. In all of my political aspirations, nanalo naman ako (I won),” he stressed.

Duterte garnered 16,601,997 votes in the final and official tally last Friday. A far second was Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel Roxas II with 9,978,175 votes.

The incoming president has not been defeated in all his past political forays and even made history as having gotten the most votes in the history of the country’s presidential elections. 

“Sabi ko nga baka (I have said) God would want me to taste defeat but it never happened,” he said.

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, however, said Duterte must attend his once-in-a-lifetime proclamation before Congress if only to make the over 16 million people who voted for him happy.

Macalintal said it is not mandatory for the winning candidate to attend the proclamation, but that people are expecting the newly elected president to be there when he is finally proclaimed.

“The entire Filipino people, especially the millions of voters who voted for Duterte would surely be very happy to see their chosen candidate for president on the day of proclamation being officially declared as the duly elected president of the country,” Macalintal said.

“Duterte should not disappoint these millions of people and adoring fans on this once in a lifetime event which will never happen again in his life because of the constitutional ban on reelection of any elected president of the Philippines,” Macalintal added.

Joint session

The Senate and the House of Representatives resume their joint session today to proclaim Duterte and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo as president-elect and vice president-elect, respectively.

While Robredo is sure to be present, the nation is not sure if Duterte would attend the ceremonies expected to take place this afternoon.

Even the leaders of Congress, who presided over last week’s canvassing of votes for president and vice president, are not sure if Duterte will show up.

“I cannot be sure, because he’s been saying that he will not necessarily attend,” Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. told radio station dzBB yesterday.

“I hope he will come because it’s an important part (of his election). It is the seal of his victory. It is the beginning of his presidency,” he said.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who lost his bid for vice president as Duterte’s running mate, told reporters over the weekend that his standard-bearer did not attend his previous proclamations as mayor and congressman in Davao City.

If the mayor changes his mind, he will attend the joint session of Congress, he said.

Incoming justice secretary Aguirre told a news conference last week that if the incoming president shows up at the proclamation, people should consider his declaration that he would skip the ceremony as one of his “preposterous” statements, which the public should take with a grain of salt.

The mayor would be breaking tradition if he indeed does not attend his proclamation. Previous winners showed up in such a ceremony, which is the culmination of the constitutional task of Congress to count the votes for president and vice president, determine who won and proclaim them.

Belmonte credited the provincial and city boards of canvassers, which forwarded certificates of canvass (COCs) to Congress, for the speedy tabulation of votes, which was finished in three days.

“First of all, we saw no major differences in the figures on the COCs. There was nothing like, why is it one million votes here and two million there. No such thing. That is why this was easy to do even by a multi-party canvassing committee where prospective members of the incoming Duterte Cabinet sat,” he said.

He was referring to labor secretary-designate Silvestre Bello III, who was a member of the House panel in the joint canvassing committee.

Belmonte said there were only minor defects in some COCs, which the canvass committee jointly chaired by House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II and Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III quickly resolved.

Such COCs were included in the tally after the concerned election officers, on questioning done for the panel by Representatives Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City and Elpidio Barzaga Jr. of Cavite, satisfactorily explained the defects.

“Everybody thought the canvassing would take several days, but it was quick. There was no objection from anybody, not a single member of the Senate, not a single member of the House. We are very proud of it,” Belmonte said.

In 2010, when then senator Benigno Aquino III won the presidency, the congressional canvass took eight days to finish. Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay were proclaimed on June 9.

It was in 2004 that the congressional count dragged for weeks. Congress declared then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and vice president Noli de Castro as winners on June 24, just six days before the term of office of elective officials was to expire.

Arroyo beat the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. by about a million votes.

Today’s proclamation could also be quick. No vigorous objections and long debates are expected, save for manifestations to be presented by the camp of Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who lost the vice presidency to Robredo by a slim margin of 263,473 votes.

The presentation will be made apparently in preparation for the filing by Marcos of an election protest against Robredo with the Supreme Court sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

It is not clear if Marcos would show up in this afternoon’s joint session and proclamation of winners.

The proclamation of Duterte and Robredo shows the smooth transition between the outgoing Aquino administration and the incoming Duterte government, Senate President Franklin Drilon said yesterday.

Drilon said the canvassing, which took about three days, is the fastest he knew in recent election history. He said it reflected the stability in the political system and maturity of the country’s democracy.

“We congratulate the Comelec for the conduct of our elections,” he said in a radio interview.

“We will submit the report of the joint canvassing. Then, it will be approved by the Senate and the House acting jointly,” Drilon said, referring to the rites today at the Batasang Pambansa.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III and Drilon said the formal invitation was signed and sent to Duterte and Robredo last Friday.

“I hope he attends the proclamation as part of tradition. This institution strengthens our democracy,” Drilon said. “By tradition, we will just raise their hands. No speeches.” - With Alexis Romero, Mayen Jaymalin, Jess Diaz, Christina Mendez