DAVAO City Acting Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte’s overseas travel from July 25 to 29, 2025, was officially authorized by Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla, who, ironically, was among the guests at the highly publicized charity boxing match on July 27, where Duterte was expected to face off against Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III.
Remulla approved Duterte’s travel authority on July 20, just days after Torre accepted the mayor’s challenge.
The match stemmed from weeks of heated verbal exchanges between Duterte and Torre, triggered by the former’s outrage over the latter’s perceived role in the controversial arrest of his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently detained at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands on charges related to alleged crimes against humanity.
On his podcast, Duterte dared Torre to a fistfight. Torre responded by arranging a sanctioned charity boxing event. The bout was meant to raise funds for disaster victims and succeeded in collecting P16 million in cash, P4.2 million in goods, and P340,000 in ticket sales, all will be coursed through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Philippine Red Cross.
Despite the humanitarian cause and national attention, Duterte dismissed the event as political theatrics, saying it was staged to distract from more pressing national concerns such as Luzon’s flooding crisis and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s overseas trips.
Duterte instead offered to fight Torre “privately, with no cameras or gloves,” and mockingly labeled the police chief a “chipmunk who has no comprehension and understanding.”
Torre, undeterred, proceeded with the event. Four PNP undercard matches were held before he was declared the victor in the main bout.
In a follow-up post, Duterte claimed he never explicitly agreed to a formal boxing match, as he accused Torre of being impartial, setting the date of the fight without consulting him.
Observers have pointed out a pattern in Duterte’s behavior: issuing aggressive public challenges, only to backtrack later.
The episode draws comparisons to a similar incident in 2021 involving his father, who challenged retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio to a debate on the West Philippine Sea issue, only to withdraw days later. The former president assigned then-spokesman Harry Roque to take his place, saying he had forgotten he was president and that his words might carry policy implications. DEF