* Duterte to boost mandate, control crucial Senate
* Senate traditionally a check on state power
* Opposition takes big hit, vows to keep up fight
* Duterte brand seen as crucial vote-winner
(Recasts)
By Martin Petty
MANILA, May 14 (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte looked set on Tuesday to strengthen his grip on power
after unofficial results of a mid-term election showed big wins
for his candidates, and resounding public endorsement of his
controversial rule.
Nine of 12 available seats in the all-important Senate
looked set to go to pro-Duterte candidates and the rest to
independents, unofficial tallies showed, as the opposition that
campaigned against his strongman approach failed to make the
cut.
Monday's ballot for more than 18,000 posts, among them
hundreds of mayors, governors, and congressmen, was billed as a
referendum on the firebrand president, with special focus on his
bid to consolidate power in an upper house that has not always
worked in his favour. L3N22M0NX
A Senate majority would cut the chance of censures and house
investigations against his government, making it easier to
co-opt independents and remove the few remaining hurdles to an
ambitious agenda for massive infrastructure spending,
re-drafting the constitution and the return of the death
penalty.
"This president's popularity and transferability of his
popularity is unprecedented to say the least, despite all the
controversies," said political analyst Edmund Tayao.
"You expect normally two or three candidates from the
opposition to win, but this is a wipe-out."
Candidates leading the Senate contest include Duterte's
closest aide, the daughter of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos,
the wife of the country's richest man, a movie star, a jailed
politician recently cleared of plunder charges, and a police
general who spearheaded Duterte's brutal war on drugs.
They would join 12 Senate incumbents, only four of whom are
from the opposition, including Leila de Lima, the biggest critic
of Duterte's deadly anti-drugs crackdown, held since 2017 on
narcotics charges.
OPPOSITION DECIMATED
The mid-term results leave the opposition in tatters and
will change the dynamic of a Senate that has traditionally been
a check on state power, and a bulwark against the kind of
political dominance Duterte is demonstrating.
He is also expected to retain control in the lower house.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the Senate's
independence would not be in question, but the vote showed the
public overwhelmingly backed Duterte and his vision.
"Undoubtedly, the Duterte magic spelled the difference," he
said. "People yearn for stability and continuity of the genuine
reforms that this administration started. They yearn for a
constructive and not obstructionist Senate."
The mid-terms come as Duterte, 74, appears untouchable, with
last year's spiralling inflation under control and a recent poll
showing his public approval rating at a staggering 81 percent.
Experts say the winning formula was selling Duterte as a
brand, including use of his daughter Sara as a surrogate to
promote his candidates, in a possible succession play for the
2022 presidential election. The result also shows the effectiveness of a diehard social
media support base, despite intermittent outrage over his
pro-China stance, jokes about rape, tirades about the church,
and his anti-drugs crackdown.
Duterte's critics needed to accept that the electorate had
rejected such negative propaganda, Panelo added.
The opposition, however, said it would not give in.
"Our fight for justice, for sovereignty and a more
progressive future for our people continues," said incumbent
Senator Francis Pangilinan.