MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Sara Duterte, the daughter of the Philippines’ outgoing populist president, was sworn in Sunday as vice president after a landslide election victory she won despite her father’s human rights record, in which thousands of suspected drug traffickers were shot to death.
The inauguration in her southern hometown of Davao, where she is the outgoing mayor, comes two weeks before she takes office on June 30, as specified in the Philippine Constitution. President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr.Duterte’s running mate, will be sworn in in Manila on June 30.
“I am not the best or the smartest person in the Philippines and the world, but no one can beat the hardness of my heart as a Filipino,” Duterte, who wore a traditional green dress, said in a speech after being sworn in. before an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, her hand resting on a Bible held by his mother.
“The voice of 32.2 million Filipinos was loud and clear, with the message of serving our motherland,” Duterte said, referring to the votes he won, to the applause of thousands of supporters.
Affectionately called “Inday Sara” by her followers, the mother of three called for national unity and devotion to God and called on Filipinos to emulate the patriotism of the country’s national hero, José Rizal. He cited long-standing social ills faced by Filipino children, including poverty, broken families, illegal drugs, online bullying and misinformation, and called on parents to instill in them the values of integrity, discipline, respect for others and compassion.
President Rodrigo Duterte, 77, led VIPs at the heavily guarded ceremony in a public square near city hall in the port city of Davao, where he also served as mayor since the late 1980s. His family, from From a modest middle-class background, he built a formidable political dynasty in the troubled southern region, long troubled by communist and Muslim insurgencies and violent political rivalries.
Duterte’s presidency has been marked by a brutal anti-drug campaign that has left thousands of suspects, mostly minors, shot dead by police or vigilantes. Drug killings are being investigated by the International Criminal Court as a possible crime against humanity.
The electoral triumph of Sara Duterte and Marcos Jr. has alarmed left-wing and human rights groups for failing to acknowledge the massive human rights atrocities that took place under their parents, including the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte campaigned on a vague platform of national unity, without clearly addressing activists’ calls for steps to prosecute the elder Duterte when he retires from politics.
One of the president’s sons, Sebastian Duterte, will succeed his sister as mayor of Davao, and another son, Paolo Duterte, won a seat in the House of Representatives in the May 9 election. The late father of the outgoing president was a former governor of Davao.
Philippine elections have long been dominated by politicians belonging to the same bloodlines. At least 250 political families have monopolized power throughout the country, although such dynasties are prohibited by the constitution. Congress, long controlled by members of powerful clans targeted by the constitutional ban, has failed to pass the law needed to define and enforce the provision.
While Sara Duterte, 44, has rejected calls from her father and supporters to seek the presidency, she has not ruled out a future run. She led the pre-election polls for president last year and won by a large margin as Marcos Jr.
In addition to the vice president, she has agreed to serve as secretary of education, although it was said that her initial preference was to head the Department of National Defense, a traditional springboard to the presidency.
Still, the education ministry would provide its first national political platform, especially with plans to resume physical classes soon after the country was hit hard by two years of coronavirus pandemic outbreaks and lockdowns.
She thanked her Davao supporters on Saturday and said she decided to celebrate her inauguration in one of the country’s most developed cities to show her pride as a politician from a southern province who rose to high national office.
Duterte finished a medical course and originally wanted to become a doctor, but later turned to law and was persuaded to enter politics starting in 2007, when she was elected deputy mayor of Davao and mayor three years later.
In 2011, she garnered national attention when she was caught on video beating and assaulting a court bailiff who was helping police demolish a shanty town despite his request for a short reprieve. The judicial official suffered injuries to a black eye and to her face and her bodyguard took her to a hospital.
Despite her public spats with her father, Sara Duterte shaved off her hair a year before the 2016 election as a show of support for his candidacy.
He won the only six-year term by a wide margin with a bold but failed promise to eradicate illegal drugs and corruption within three to six months, and constant public threats to kill drug dealers.
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