Duterte tightens grip on power in Philippine polls

Allies of President Rodrigo Duterte stormed to a landslide victory in midterm polls, final results showed Wednesday, dissolving a last check on his controversial rule.

Loyalists won both houses of the legislature, shutting out all opposition candidates in the Senate, which had served as a buffer against Duterte's most contentious plans.

The results open a path for Duterte -- who has remarkably high approval ratings -- to make good on his call to bring back the death penalty and advance his project to re-write the constitution.

"It's a clear signal that the people will be behind him as he pushes bills and processes that went nowhere previously," political analyst Ramon Casiple told AFP.

With nine Duterte backers and three nominally unaligned politicians taking the 12 seats at stake in the 24-member Senate, only four oppositions members will remain, results from the elections authority showed.

Duterte allies kept control of the lower House of Representatives, which has approved legislation to bring back capital punishment and re-write the constitution since Duterte's 2016 election.

Among the new senators is former national police chief Ronald dela Rosa, the first enforcer of Duterte's narcotics crackdown that has killed over 5,300.

Campaigners say the true toll is at least triple that and may amount to crimes against humanity.

"Number one on my agenda is the reimposition of the death penalty for drug trafficking," dela Rosa told reporters.

"I will focus on that." Senate seats also went to Christopher "Bong" Go, Duterte's long-time advisor, and Imee Marcos, the daughter of deceased dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was ousted in a 1986 popular uprising.

The top vote-getter in the Senate race, Cynthia Villar, thanked the president for his backing and asked for a round of applause for him in a speech after the results were announced.

"The laws we craft or legislate must consider all interests involved," she added. "A strong and independent Senate has always been our goal."