DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Languishing in an International Criminal Court (ICC) detention facility outside the Dutch city of The Hague, Rodrigo Duterte might be out of sight for Philippine voters. But the former president is anything but out of mind ahead of the country’s May 12 midterm elections.
Indeed, experts are predicting the contests for the House of Representatives, half the Senate and numerous local legislatures and administrations will largely be a proxy battle between the Duterte clan and that of incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The two families fell out shortly after the latter replaced the former in 2022.
