DAVAO, Philippines – Former Civil Service Commission (CSC) chairman Karlo Alexei Nograles filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for Davao mayor on Tuesday, October 8, while his sister launched her bid for the congressional seat in the city’s 1st District.
The move of the Nograleses was seen as a challenge to the political leadership of the Duterte family in Davao City.
The 48-year-old Karlo, a former congressman who served as Cabinet secretary during the Duterte administration, submitted his COC to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Davao.
Duterte filed his COC for Davao’s mayoral post on Monday afternoon, October 7, with his son, Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, sliding down to be his running mate.
Karlo’s sister, Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) partylist Representative Margarita “Migs” Nograles, also filed her COC for congresswoman in the city’s 1st District, challenging the reelection bid of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte’s eldest son, Paolo.
Karlo’s decision to run for mayor rekindled memories of the long and bitter political feud between the Duterte and Nograles families, which began in the 1990s. Duterte and the late Prospero Nograles, a former House Speaker and representative of Davao’s 1st District, had been at the center of the rivalry.
The Nograles patriarch first challenged Duterte during his first bid for reelection as Davao mayor in the early 1990s.
Duterte originally won the mayoral post in the 1988 race against Zafiro Respicio, a key figure in the anti-Marcos movement and Davao City’s first post-EDSA Revolution mayor. Respicio, who had served as officer-in-charge of the Davao City government following the 1986 revolution, faced off against Duterte, his vice mayor, in the city’s first election under the newly ratified post-EDSA Constitution.
Despite Respicio’s political credentials — rising from student leader to councilor, and later assemblyman in 1984 — Duterte emerged victorious in the 1988 mayoral race.
In 1992, Duterte again defended his position, this time against Nograles, marking the beginning of a two-decade-long rivalry. Nograles attempted to unseat Duterte in that election but lost.
Three years later, he was elected Davao’s 1st District representative, a post he held until 1998, when he ran for mayor once more, this time against Duterte’s vice mayor and bet, Benjamin de Guzman.
Nograles was defeated by De Guzman, while Duterte won as the city’s 1st District representative. Eventually, Duterte severed ties with De Guzman and unseated him in the 2001 mayoral election.
Even after Nograles’ rise to the House speakership during the Arroyo administration, his ambitions to become Davao mayor remained elusive. In 2010, he suffered another defeat — this time against Duterte’s daughter, Sara, who is now the vice president.
The Nograles-Duterte rivalry only eased when Nograles endorsed Duterte’s 2016 presidential bid. Following their reconciliation, Nograles’ son, Karlo, became the Duterte Cabinet secretary, and later chairperson of the CSC under the Marcos Jr. administration. He resigned from the CSC on Monday, the same day Duterte filed his COC for Davao mayor.
Relations between the Duterte and Nograles families began to sour again after the 2022 elections, amid talk that one of the Nograleses, Migs, was planning on challenging the ex-president’s youngest son, Sebastian. Karlo turned out to be the main challenger for Davao’s top post. – Rappler.com