DAVAO City may host for the first time a presidential inauguration amid plans floated by the camp of president-elect Rodrigo Duterte that he will take his oath of office on June 30, 2016 in the city that he has served for 27 years as local chief executive.
“The inaugural committee will be composed of people known to the mayor in Davao,” Peter Laviña, Duterte’s spokesperson told Davao-based reporters.
Laviña, who earlier described the mayor’s inauguration as “simple and frugal,” said that the transition team will likewise “rely on the volunteers who helped” the mayor during the campaign.
Lavinña added that the transition team may have “to deal with the Malacañang protocol office” and the other agencies involved in the inauguration.
Duterte will end his last term as mayor of Davao City and hand over the post to his daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, scheduled to be held on June 29, a day before the president’s oathtaking.
In previous campaign sorties, Duterte expressed his intention to stay in Davao as he doesn’t want to stay in the Malacañan Palace that is filled with “ghosts.”
“I’m not yet accustomed. Give me even just plywood or fiberglass and I’ll be okay. I don’t want to sleep there. All the ghosts who pass through the Philippines are there,” Duterte said.
Seven presidential inaugurations have been held at the Quirino Grandstand in the Luneta, namely, Quirino (1949), Magsaysay (1953), Garcia (1957), Macapagal (1961), Marcos (1965, 1969, 1981), Ramos (1992) and Aquino III (2010).
Presidents Estrada and Arroyo only delivered their inaugural addresses there. Estrada and Arroyo were the only presidents to take the oath of office and inaugural addresses in two different locations.
Other presidents, namely Aguinaldo and Estrada, were inaugurated at the Barasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan; Quezon, Laurel and Roxas were inaugurated in front of the Legislative Building; and Aquino in Club Filipino, Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila.
Marcos was inaugurated at the Maharlika Hall, Malacañan Palace in 1986. Arroyo first took her oath as president at the Edsa Shrine in Quezon City. Osmeña, who assumed the presidency upon the death of his predecessor Manuel L. Quezon, took his oath of office in Washington D.C. Quirino and Garcia took the oath of office in the Malacañan Palace.