DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 5 Jan) – President Rodrigo R. Duterte has accepted on Friday the resignation of his son, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo “Pulong” Duterte.
In his letter dated January 5, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea informed Vice Mayor Duterte that the President has accepted his resignation on Friday afternoon.
A tearful vice mayor made his announcement during a special council session on December 25 to deliberate the proposed measure to declare the city in a state of calamity due to Tropical Storm “Vinta” and the disbursement of the remaining 2017 budget for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund worth P83.4 million for 18,603 families affected by flood.
The 42-year-old vice mayor said he wanted to resign out of “delicadeza” after he was dragged into a P6.4-billion smuggling controversy and squabble with her daughter, Isabelle, on social media.
Vice Mayor Duterte, who was on his second term since 2013, and his brother-in-law, lawyer Manases Carpio, were dragged into the P6.4-billion shabu smuggling controversy here as members of the so-called Davao Group, supposedly behind shabu shipment from China that arrived via the Manila International Container in Tondo, Manila last May 16.
The two appeared in a Senate probe last September 7 where they denied hand in the smuggling.
Before he became vice mayor, the younger Duterte served as barangay chairman of Catalunan Grande in the city’s first district from 2007 to 2013, and as chair of the Association Barangay Captains (ABC) Davao City from 2008 to 2013.
The vice mayor traded barbs with Isabelle, his daughter with ex-wife Lovelie Sangkola Sumera. Isabelle drew the ire of netizens for her “inappropriate” pre-debut pictorial inside Malacañang Palace.
“The other person in this failed relationship is incorrigible and cannot be controlled. And I take responsibility for all that has happened as a result of a wrong decision to marry at a very young age,” the vice mayor said.
The Local Government Code of 1991 (RA 7160), states: “If a permanent vacancy occurs in the office of the governor or Mayor, the vice- governor or vice-mayor concerned shall become the governor or Mayor. If a permanent vacancy occurs in the offices of the governor, vice-governor, Mayor, or vice-mayor, the highest ranking Sanggunian member or, in case of his permanent inability, the second highest ranking Sanggunian member, shall become the governor, vice-governor, Mayor or vice-mayor, as the case may be. Subsequent vacancies in the said office shall be filled automatically by the other Sanggunian members according to their ranking as defined herein.” (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)