Mayor of Davao City

Mayor of Davao City
Seal of Davao City
Incumbent Sebastian Duterte since June 30, 2022
Style	The Honorable
Residence	Davao City Hall
Appointer	Elected via popular vote
Term length	3 years
Inaugural holder	Santiago Artiaga
Formation	1937
Website	https://www.davaocity.gov.ph/

The mayor of Davao City is the chief executive of the government of Davao City in Davao Region, Philippines. The mayor leads the city's departments in executing ordinances and delivering public services. The mayorship is a three-year term and each mayor is restricted to three consecutive terms, totalling nine years, although a mayor can be elected again after an interruption of one term.

The current mayor is Sebastian Duterte, the son of former Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

History

On March 16, 1936, Davao Assemblyman Romualdo C. Quimpo filed a bill seeking to create the chartered City of Davao. This bill would later be signed by President Manuel L. Quezon as Commonwealth Act No. 51 on October 16, 1936. Davao City shall then be governed by a Mayor as an independent City.

In 1967, the province of Davao was divided into three provinces: Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and Davao del Sur. Geographically, Davao City became part of Davao del Sur, but was no longer its provincial capital. It became the commercial center of Southern Mindanao. This period also saw the election of an indigenous person to the city mayorship when Elias Baguio Lopez, a full-blooded Bagobo, won the 1967 local elections.

In 1972, Davao City became the regional administrative capital of Southern Mindanao. Thereafter, upon its reorganization as the regional capital of the Davao Region (Region XI), it was the sole highly urbanized city in the Davao Region.

In 1986, President Corazon Aquino appointed Rodrigo Duterte as OIC Vice Mayor. Duterte later ran for Mayor and won, taking the top post from 1988 to 1998, from 2001 to 2010, and yet again from 2013 to 2016. The incumbent city mayor is his youngest child, Sebastian Duterte.

Notable mayors

Santiago Artiaga

Before claiming the honor as Davao City’s first sitting mayor, Santiago Artiaga (1878–1962), one of the first pensionados (state scholars) during the American occupation, was already a colorful, if controversial, figure in Manila. As the city engineer, the highest position next to the mayor, he had clashes with the city council and, as acting city mayor, was the envy of his detractors.

In 1933, he filed an early retirement from public service, but this was not accepted. He continued to serve as city engineer until 1936 when he resigned to accept the appointment as de jure mayor of Zamboanga City. Two weeks thereafter, he was reassigned to Davao as its first city mayor.

For nearly three years Artiaga served diligently as local chief executive, but had to leave after President Manuel L. Quezon plucked him out for another assignment. On October 13, 1939, Malacañang announced his appointment as the new provincial governor of Bukidnon, replacing Agustin Alvarez who took over as the new city mayor of Davao.

Rodrigo Duterte

Rodrigo Duterte

Rodrigo Duterte, a lawyer and former city prosecutor, served seven terms as mayor of Davao City. In 2016, he was elected as the 16th president of the Philippines.

Duterte was born on March 28, 1945, in Maasin, Southern Leyte. His father, Vicente Duterte, served as mayor of Danao, Cebu and governor of Davao, and his mother, Soledad Roa-Duterte, was a public school teacher and a noted community activist.

Duterte's rise from the legal ranks to politics began when he was named special counsel at the City Prosecution Office in Davao City in 1977. He became assistant city prosecutor two years later, serving until 1986.

In May 1986, he was appointed OIC vice mayor of Davao City by the revolutionary government of Corazon Aquino. He won as mayor of Davao City in the 1988 local elections under the Lakas ng Dabaw banner, defeating former OIC mayor Zafiro Respicio and popular broadcaster Jun Pala.

Nicknamed "The Punisher" by Time Magazine for his controversial methods, Duterte nevertheless was successful in reducing crime. Furthermore, he was credited with helping to make Davao City cleaner by enforcing a smoking ban, and for his LGBT-friendly measures. His popularity was such that he served seven terms as mayor, sidestepping term limits with stints as a congressman and vice mayor, and drew huge ratings with a weekly television program "Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa."

Sara Duterte

Sara Duterte served as mayor of Davao City twice — during the first half of presidency of Benigno Aquino III and during the entire presidency of her father. She became the city's first female mayor, and the youngest to ever be elected in its history.

Duterte won as Vice President of the Philippines in the 2022 Philippine presidential election, as part of the UniTeam Alliance with former senator Bongbong Marcos, the son of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, as her running-mate for the presidency. Duterte entered the vice presidential race at the last hour via substitution after initially claiming that she had no interest in seeking a national post.

List

References:

No.	Image	Name	Party		Term start	Term end	Vice Mayor
Commonwealth
1		Santiago Artiaga			3 December 1936	12 October 1939
2		Agustin L. Alvarez			13 October 1939	30 September 1940
3		Pantaleon A. Pelayo			1 October 1940	2 January 1942
Second Republic (Japanese Occupation)
4		Alfonso G. Oboza			1942	1943
5		Juan Melencio A. Sarenas			1943	1944
6		Donato C. Endriga			1944	1945
Commonwealth
7		Pantaleon A. Pelayo			May 1945	December 1945
Third Republic
8		Apolinario C. Cabigon			January 1946	February 1946
9		Fundador R. Villafuerte			1946	1947
10		Leon Maria A. Garcia			1947	1949
11		Bernardo B. Teves		Nacionalista	1949	1953
12		Rodolfo B. Sarenas			1953	1954
13		Julian A. Rodriguez			1954	1955
14		Carmelo L. Porras		Liberal	1956	1959	Ramon G. Morada
15					1960	1963	Fermin T. Abella
16					1964	1967	Elias B. Lopez
17		Elias B. Lopez		Nacionalista	1968	1971	Manuel C. Sotto
Martial Law
18		Luis T. Santos		Kilusang Bagong Lipunan	1972	1975	Cornelio P. Maskariño
19					1976	1981
Fourth Republic
20		Elias B. Lopez		Nacionalista	1981	1986	Cornelio P. Maskariño
Transitional Government
21		Zafiro L. Respicio		PDP–Laban	April 4, 1986	May 2, 1986	Cornelio P. Maskariño
					May 2, 1986	November 27, 1987	Rodrigo R. Duterte
Fifth Republic
22		Jacinto T. Rubillar Jr.		Lakas ng Bansa	17 December 1987	14 January 1988	Gilbert G. Abellera
					14 January 1988	2 February 1988	Thelmo F. Dumadag
23		Rodrigo R. Duterte		Lakas ng Dabaw	2 February 1988	12 November 1990	Dominador B. Zuño Jr.
		Dominador B. Zuño Jr. (Acting)		PDP–Laban	12 November 1990	11 January 1991	Corazon N. Malanyaon
		Rodrigo R. Duterte		Nacionalista Party	11 January 1991	30 June 1992	Dominador B. Zuño Jr.
24					30 June 1992	30 June 1995	Luis C. Bonguyan
25					30 June 1995	19 March 1998	Benjamin C. de Guzman
		Benjamin C. de Guzman (Acting)		Alyansa sa Katawhan sa Dabaw	19 March 1998	30 June 1998	Danilo C. Dayanghirang (19 March 1998 — 27 March 1998)
							Pilar C. Braga (27 March 1998 – 30 June 1998)
26		Benjamin C. de Guzman		LAMMP	30 June 1998	30 June 2001	Luis C. Bonguyan
27		Rodrigo R. Duterte		PDP–Laban	30 June 2001	30 June 2004
28					30 June 2004	30 June 2007
29				Liberal	30 June 2007	30 June 2010	Sara Z. Duterte
30		Sara Z. Duterte		PDP–Laban	30 June 2010	30 June 2013	Rodrigo R. Duterte
31		Rodrigo R. Duterte		Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod	30 June 2013	30 June 2016	Paolo Z. Duterte
32		Sara Z. Duterte		Hugpong ng Pagbabago	30 June 2016	30 June 2019
33					30 June 2019	17 March 2022	Sebastian Z. Duterte
		Sebastian Z. Duterte (Acting)			17 March 2022	30 June 2022
34		Sebastian Z. Duterte			30 June 2022	Present	Jesus Melchor B. Quitain Jr.

Vice Mayor of Davao City

The vice mayor is the second-highest official of Davao City. The vice mayor is elected via popular vote; although most mayoral candidates have running mates, the vice mayor is elected separately from the mayor. This can result in the mayor and the vice mayor coming from different political parties.

The vice mayor is the presiding officer of the Davao City Council, although he can only vote as the tiebreaker. When a mayor is removed from office, the vice mayor serves as acting mayor until the next election.

J. Melchor Quitain Jr. is the current Vice Mayor of Davao City, assuming the post last June 2022.

Further reading

• "21 gentlemen and one lady served as Davao city mayors". Edge Davao. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2024.