A convoy of bikes and cars cruises through the streets of Davao City, decked out in the campaign colours of former president Rodrigo Duterte and his family. Green balloons and red ribbons bop and flutter in the breeze. Cars beep their horns and passersby stop to raise their fists in support of the former leader.
The motorcade is as noisy and colourful as any election campaign event in the Philippines, which will vote in midterm polls on Monday. But this procession is different. Duterte, who is running as mayor of Davao, his family’s stronghold, is imprisoned thousands of miles away in The Hague, following his arrest in March for the crime against humanity of murder over his deadly so-called “war on drugs”.
