THE YEAR 2025 will be etched into the history of the Davao Region as a period of unprecedented seismic shifts—political, legal, and literal.
For Davaoeños, it was a year where the headlines didn’t just report on the world; they brought the world’s most intense scrutiny to the city’s doorstep.
The Hague: A former president behind bars
The most tectonic political event occurred on March 11, 2025, with the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte. The 79-year-old leader was apprehended at Ninoy Aquino International Airport upon his return from Hong Kong and whisked off to the International Criminal Court (ICC) detention facility in The Hague.
As the year ends, the Duterte family remains vocal in their grief.
On Dec. 22, Veronica “Kitty” Duterte stood outside the detention center, revealing a “no-visit” policy for the holidays.
While his new legal team, led by Nicholas Kaufman, prepares for a January 2026 fitness hearing citing “cognitive decline,” the city he built remains deeply polarized between those demanding international justice and those who remain fiercely loyal.
The Manila-Davao rift: Impeachment and nullification
Political instability rippled from Davao to the capital. On Feb. 5, 2025, Vice President Sara Duterte became the first VP to be impeached by the House of Representatives. However, the legal victory for her detractors was short-lived.
In a landmark 13-0-2 decision on July 25, the Supreme Court nullified the impeachment, ruling that the House violated the “one-year bar rule” and the VP’s right to due process.
The decision proved to be a temporary reprieve; as the constitutional ban expires on Feb. 6, 2026, civil society groups are already sharpening their pens to refile.
IGlobal terror, local shadows: The Bondi Beach link
Security became a front-page concern in December when a tragic mass shooting at a Hanukkah festival in Bondi Beach, Sydney, was linked back to Davao.
Sajid and Naveed Akram, the father-and-son duo who killed 15 people in Australia, were confirmed to have stayed at a GV Hotel in Davao City for nearly a month (Nov. 1–28) before their attack.
While Brig. Gen. Leon Victor Rosete (PRO-XI) launched intensive “backtracking” operations; the Australian Federal Police later suggested the pair acted alone.
Still, the incident reignited debates over Mindanao being a potential ISIS “training ground”—a claim the Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom) continues to deny vigorously.
Tactical Wins: A region declared ‘NPA-free’
Amid the security anxiety, the military recorded its most significant victory in decades.
On June 18, 2025, the 10th Infantry “Agila” Division officially declared its entire operational area free of active New People’s Army (NPA) combatants.
Following the arrest of the last Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC) remnants in Agusan del Sur, Major Ruben Gadut, the 10th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office chief highlighted that Davao had transitioned from harboring 16 guerrilla fronts to zero.
The military now shifts its focus to monitoring “lie-low” members and preventing recruitment, maintaining a “Whole-of-Nation” approach to sustain the hard-won peace.
Discipline and development: vices and vital roads
On the home front, local enforcement and infrastructure development struggled to keep pace with the holiday rush:
- Vices Regulation: In a dramatic series of raids on Dec. 28, the Vices Regulation Unit (VRU) used decoy tactics to infiltrate bars along Cabaguio Avenue. The operation resulted in 74 citations for Liquor Code violations, with two bars now facing permit cancellation.
- Infrastructure: Segment B of the Davao City Coastal Road finally opened to 24/7 traffic on Dec. 19. While intended as a holiday gift to motorists, the premature opening—marked by a public spat between the DPWH and Acting Mayor Baste Duterte over safety concerns—has resulted in massive bottlenecks at the Roxas Rotunda.
The October doublet
No report on 2025 would be complete without the Oct. 10 “Doublet” earthquakes. The magnitude 7.4 and 6.8 tremors claimed 10 lives and injured over 1,000 people.
With ₱2.26 billion in damages and nearly 40,000 homes affected, the disaster served as a final, cruel reminder of the region’s vulnerability.
