Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III was declared the winner by default in his boxing match against Acting Davao City Mayor Baste Duterte, who failed to show up at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum on Sunday morning.
As of 10:30 a.m., Torre was already inside the ring waiting for Duterte, who had previously announced he would not attend the match. After a 10-second countdown, Torre was declared the winner in front of thousands of attendees at the venue. According to the PNP Public Information Office, more than 2,000 people attended the event.
Earlier, the Bureau of Immigration revealed that Duterte had left the Philippines for Singapore days before the proposed match. On Saturday, Duterte suggested rescheduling the bout to either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Following the match, Torre announced that the government collected over PHP 300,000 from entrance fees alone, while companies donated more than PHP 16 million to support Filipinos affected by the southwest monsoon (habagat) and other weather disturbances.