CONGRESS yesterday proclaimed Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as the 16th President of the Republic in absentia.
Camarines Sur Rep. Ma. Leonor Robredo, the new Vice President, stole the show because Duterte opted not to come to the Batasan Pambansa.
President-elect Duterte won with an over six million-vote margin over his closest rival, former Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II. The National Board of Canvassers counted 16,601,997 votes cast in favor of Duterte, the first Mindanaoan to successfully launch a presidential campaign.
Congress proclaimed Robredo as the winner in the hotly contested vice presidential race with a slim margin of 263,473 votes. The National Board of Canvassers counted 14,418,817 votes cast for Robredo.
Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte raised the hands of Robredo as she was proclaimed as the new Vice President. Robredo’s children came to witness the historic event which President-elect Duterte chose not to take part in.
Duterte’s decision not to show up posed no problems, albeit unprecedented, said Drilon.
Drilon said Duterte’s no-show was more of a “personal” reason, and would have no legal effect when he sits as the 16th President of the Republic.
The President-elect, in an earlier interview, said he never attended his proclamations in Davao City where he served as mayor, congressman, and vice mayor on separate occasions, and merely sent his representatives.
The afternoon proclamations came just three days after the National Board of Canvassers finished the canvassing of votes on Friday.
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