Former President Rodrigo Duterte is seeking a comeback as the local chief executive of his hometown, Davao City.

On Monday afternoon, Duterte filed his certificate of candidacy (CoC) with the Commission on Elections, formalizing his bid for mayor in the 2025 midterm elections.

His son, Sebastian Duterte, the incumbent mayor, will be his running mate for vice mayor.

Meanwhile, Davao City First District Representative Paolo Duterte also filed his CoC for reelection, with his lawyer, Elijah Pepito, submitting it on Monday.

In addition, a grandson of the former president and son of Paolo, incumbent Buhangin Barangay Captain Omar Duterte, is vying to represent Davao City’s Second District.

The CoC filings have temporarily put to rest the possibility of three Dutertes running for the Senate.

In late June, Vice President Sara Duterte said her brothers would be vying for senatorial seats alongside their father, who topped a survey of preferred senatorial candidates conducted by Oculum Research and Analytics in the first quarter of 2024.

The former president, however, denied this and over the weekend hinted at a possible comeback as Davao City mayor, a position he held for several years before his children, Sara and Sebastian, took over.

The Duterte family has ruled Davao City for more than three decades.

Aspirants for national and local positions in the May 2025 elections have until today, 8 October, to file their CoCs with the Commission on Elections.

Duterte and some allies are known for their strategy of last-minute substitutions.

In 2015, the former president substituted for PDP Laban’s initial presidential candidate, Martin Diño, who was widely believed to be holding the place for Duterte, who later won the May 2016 election.

His daughter, now the vice president, repeated this strategy by filing her CoC as a substitute for Lakas-CMD’s Lyle Uy — originally the party’s vice-presidential candidate — just two days before the May 2022 election deadline.

Soldiering on

Meanwhile, former military men Gringo Honasan and Ariel Querubin officially launched their Senate bids, filing their CoCs on the same day.

Asked why he was seeking a return to the Senate, Honasan, the first filer of the day, said he wanted to complete some unfinished business.

“This reform is not just said or thought, it must be done. That’s why 40 years ago, the Reform the Armed Forces Movement was born,” he said.

If elected, Honasan said he plans to advocate for economic, land, electoral and social reforms.

Honasan served in the Senate in 1995, 2001, 2007 and 2013. He ran for vice president in 2016 as former Vice President Jejomar Binay’s running mate, but both campaigns were unsuccessful.

The CoC filings have temporarily put to rest the possibility of three Dutertes running for the Senate.

In 2018, Honasan served as secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

For his part, Querubin pledged to fight for the West Philippine Sea as a senator.

He outlined three reasons for his candidacy: to alleviate hunger and poverty for Filipinos, provide quality education for the youth and protect the West Philippine Sea.

“As a former Marine, we cannot sit idly by while we are repeatedly oppressed in the West Philippine Sea. Let’s protect our rights and fight for them,” he said.