Trillanes, one of the leaders of the coup attempts against the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, made life hard for Duterte towards the end of the 90-day election campaign.
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Philippine mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who has an unbeatable lead in unofficial tallies in the country’s presidential race, will push to rewrite the constitution and change to a parliamentary system of government, his spokesman has said.
When Duterte entered the presidential race previous year he was generally viewed as a wild-card candidate who would at best inject some color into the contest.
Mr Duterte’s campaign has been filled with his profanity-laced vows to kill criminals and solve poverty by quick but brutal plans. Extrajudicial death squads have reportedly killed more than a thousand people during his time as mayor of Davao City.
“We’ll wait for the official results and we can comment more directly there about our ability to work with the winners of that election”, he said. Sison claimed Duterte, his student in a political science subject at a Manila university in the 1960s, would consider a “coalition” as long as the communists disarmed.
The 71-year-old’s defiance of political tradition has drawn comparisons with presumptive US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, as have his references to his libido. As Mr Duterte rose in opinion polls ahead of voting, Mr Aquino had tried to unite other candidates against him, warning his election could mean a return to dictatorship for the Philippines.
Another key rival, Senator Grace Poe, earlier conceded defeat, promising to “co-operate with the healing process” after a turbulent campaign.
According to the Philippines’ Commission on Elections, the official results are expected to be announced within a week of the elections.
In the separate election for vice-president, the son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was trailing by a narrow margin behind Leni Robredo, who is backed by Mr Aquino.
Some of that is just the way Duterte has learned to speak to the public, Rood said, more than a reflection of his beliefs.
He also expressed his desire to participate in regional security talks with Australia and the USA, in relation to the South China Sea dispute.
“We need to send out personal envoys to open lines of communication and express openness to cooperate”, he said.
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Although Duterte said that China should respect the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone given to coastal states by global law, he also said they should team up with the Philippines to exploit offshore oil and gas.
