Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, shown here with sister, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte. CONTRIBUTED FILE PHOTO
DAVAO CITY—Presumptive vice president and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte has formed a team to prepare for her departure from city hall and hand over power to her younger brother Vice Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte who won the mayoral race.
The outgoing mayor is also preparing to become the next Education secretary after she and her running mate, presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos Jr., agreed that she heads the Department of Education (DepEd) instead of the Department of National Defense.
In a press statement on Thursday, Duterte praised outgoing Education Secretary Leonor Briones who was appointed by her father, President Rodrigo Duterte, and “the entire DepEd organization for their readiness to work with our team for the transition of leadership after the proclamation.”
In preparation of Baste’s takeover of the city government, Sara pointed the need for a governance transition team to implement the turnover of responsibilities to the incoming administration of the city “to ensure the continuity in local governance.”
“The transition team shall also gather, secure, and preserve all official documents and/or records of official transactions of the City Government of Davao; turnover of accountabilities using the prescribed forms, in the case of incoming elected local officials, and update list of accountabilities, in case of re-elected officials; and organize a turnover ceremony for the incoming local officials, including a briefing on the Governance Assessment Report and key challenges, to be conducted on June 30, 2022,” the executive order creating the transition team said.