MANILA, Philippines – Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio will just watch the fourth State of the Nation Address of President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday from home in Davao City.
Duterte-Carpio will skip the President’s Sona due to a “special medical leave for 60 days.”
“I will watch the Sona with my mother,” she told INQUIRER.net in a text message.
Duterte-Carpio was referring to her mother Elizabeth Zimmerman, who will also skip the President’s Sona to look after Sara’s children.
She said he would watch the Sona at her mother’s house.
READ: BREAKING: Sara Duterte to skip father’s fourth SONA
This is the first time Duterte-Carpio will not be attending her father’s Sona.
She was widely believed to be behind the ouster of Davao del Norte 1st District Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez as House Speaker in 2018.
Alvarez was replaced by former President and former Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Duterte-Carpio has denied involvement in the ouster of Alvarez but her father has claimed she had a hand in the unseating of his father’s key political ally.
The House of Representatives is set to elect its new Speaker after the President endorsed the bid of Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano
The Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), chaired by Duterte-Carpio, meanwhile had chosen to support the bid of Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab.
After her father’s endorsement of Cayetano, the younger Duterte has been quiet on who to support for the Speaker race. /muf