05/12/2025
- In February 1986, following the EDSA People Power Revolution that ousted President Ferdinand Marcos, Corazon Aquino assumed power as President of the Philippines through a revolutionary government.
- On March 20, 1986, President Corazon Aquino appointed local officers-in-charge (OICs) nationwide to replace officials associated with the Marcos regime. In Davao City, Aquino appointed Zafiro Respicio as OIC Mayor and Rodrigo Duterte as OIC Vice Mayor.
- Duterte had previously served as an assistant city fiscal (prosecutor) in Davao City from 1977 to 1986 and had briefly been a special counsel in the city prosecutorโs office during the early years of martial law.
- The 1987 Philippine Constitution, ratified on February 2, 1987, restored elective local government positions and set the first synchronized local elections for January 18, 1988.
- In the January 18, 1988 local elections, Rodrigo Duterte ran for mayor of Davao City under the banner of the Lakas ng Dabaw coalition allied with Aquinoโs Lakas ng Bansa. He defeated the incumbent OIC Mayor Zafiro Respicio and former mayor Elias B. Lopez, among others.
- Duterte was proclaimed mayor on February 2, 1988, and served his first full three-year term from 1988 to 1992.
- He was re-elected mayor in 1992 (term 1992โ1995) and again in 1995 (term 1995โ1998).
- The 1987 Constitution initially limited local officials to three consecutive terms. After completing three consecutive terms (1988โ1998), Duterte was constitutionally barred from running for mayor again in 1998.
- In 1998, he ran for and won a seat in the House of Representatives representing Davao Cityโs 1st District, serving from 1998 to 2001.
- In 2001, he returned to Davao City and was elected mayor again (term 2001โ2004, 2004โ2007, 2007โ2010).
- After reaching the new three-term limit again in 2010, he ran for vice mayor in 2010 and won, swapping positions with his long-time ally Inday Sara Duterte, who ran for mayor.
- In 2013, he ran for mayor again and was re-elected (term 2013โ2016), after which he ran for and won the presidency of the Philippines in May 2016.
Thus, Rodrigo Duterte served as mayor of Davao City for a total of seven terms (22 years): 1988โ1998, 2001โ2010, and 2013โ2016, plus his initial appointment as OIC Vice Mayor in 1986.
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