Sebastian Duterte

Sebastian "Baste" Zimmerman Duterte (, [dʊˈtɛɾtɛ]; born November 3, 1987) is a Filipino politician who has served as the 22nd mayor of Davao City since 2022. Following the 2025 elections, which he initially won as vice mayor, he served as acting mayor until officially assuming the post permanently in 2026. He previously served as the vice mayor of Davao City from 2019 to 2022. The youngest son of the 16th president and former Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and his former wife Elizabeth Zimmerman, Duterte had initially expressed no interest in politics prior to his father becoming president in 2016. He later entered politics in 2019, having run for vice mayor unopposed. After his sister Sara, then the mayor of Davao, ran for vice president, he substituted for her in that year's election, winning in a landslide. After his father sought a return to the city's mayoralty, he ran as his running mate and won. Due to the continued detention of his father at The Hague and subsequent inability to take the oath of office, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) designated him as acting mayor. On January 23, 2026, Duterte officially became the permanent mayor. In mid-2025, Duterte became the acting president of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino party, succeeding Senator Robin Padilla, and was later appointed to the position in April 2026. Duterte has been embroiled in various controversies as mayor, including his failure to curb the deadly floods in Davao city despite the 13,917 flood control projects and a ₱51 billion fund for the city's 1st district alone, the largest in the country, provided to him and other elected members of his family by the national government. The illegal drug trade also expanded in Davao city during his term, while he is criticized for his...