The 71-year-old’s outspoken campaign, including boasting about his sexual escapades, has drawn parallels to US presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has uttered numerous derogatory remarks against women, immigrants and Muslims on his way to the Republican Party’s nomination.
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Poe conceded just after midnight on Tuesday, and Roxas followed just after lunch. He vowed to kill drug pushers, shocking his challengers.
Duterte had surged in the polls on a brash, anti-establishment platform, touting his tough approach against crime in Davao despite the fact that brutal death squads are said to have claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people during his tenure.
She previously had a successful career as a senior editor. Michael Sullivan reports for our Newscast Unit that Duterte, who began as a political outsider, “collected almost twice as many votes as his two main rivals, including the man supported by outgoing President Benigno Aquino”.
As at 11pm yesterday, Mr Duterte had 15.7 million votes, well ahead of Mr Roxas’ 9.5 million and Ms Poe’s 8.8 million.
Results from the semi-official count gave Duterte an unassailable lead, thrusting him into national politics for the first time after 22 years as mayor of Davao and a government prosecutor before that.
“It’s with humility, extreme humility, that I accept this, the mandate of the people”, Duterte, 71, mayor of the city of Davao, told the Agence France Presse news agency.
On the campaign trail he had enraged critics but hypnotised fans with profanity-laced promises to kill tens of thousands of criminals, forget human rights laws and pardon himself for mass murder.
“I would like to reach out my hands to my opponents”, Duterte said, adding the “virulent” campaign season should not step them from mending fences and helping one another in nation-building. In those two jobs, Mr Duterte gained recognition by going after criminals, although he was also accused of carrying out hundreds of extrajudicial killings.
In the Philippines, a victor is decided simply by whoever gets the most votes.
During the campaign, the politician has peppered his speeches with boasts about his Viagra-fuelled sexual prowess and jokes about rape, but has “successfully tapped into widespread discontent”, says CBS News. The next president will be sworn in on June 30.
But Tabunda said she expected the late rise of Robredo’s numbers because of the demographics of her supporters.
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“The powerful elites in Manila who will be affected by this system will definitely oppose this proposal”, said Earl Parreno, an analyst at the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms.
