Davao City mayor, Rodrigo Duterte with daughter Sara. GERMELINA LACORTE/INQUIRER MINDANAO FILE PHOTO
DAVAO CITY, Philippines—The two outspoken children of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte have issued a public apology over their father’s “street thug” personality but stressed that he was very capable of leading the country.
“I apologize for his behavior,” his daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio wrote on Instagram on Tuesday in response to posts, urging her to “advice your father to protect his image.”
Duterte drew the ire of netizens after he cursed Pope Francis on national television, blaming the pontiff for his being stuck in traffic while in Manila.
“Rest assured, he is intelligent enough for the highest position,” she added, followed by the hashtags “#thuglife #thatsourboy #dancedancedance #goodvibes #du30 #Duterte2016 #justDuit.”
Duterte-Carpio said her father is a lawyer by profession but “(has) the manners of a street thug… unfortunately, he does not have the finesse of Lady Diana,” she said.
Sara’s elder brother and Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte also apologized for the way his father talks.
He said while his father does not behave like royals do, he was “very capable of becoming President.”
As this developed, Paolo said they had expected more issues—not only against his father—but against other Duterte family members as well.
“The political mudslinging has started,” he said.
Paolo cited recent issues that surfaced, including his alleged involvement in drugs, smuggling and carjacking.
“It has begun. They picked up dripping mud to throw at me and my family to discredit and paint a horrible image of us. They will call me drug lord, rapist, smuggler and carnapper,” he said.
Paolo admitted that during his younger days, he was indeed an adventurous teenager and was “involved in bar fights, crazy car driving, raging temper and other misadventures, which may not be your ideal childhood experiences,” he said.
“I’m not the typical guy who visits museums, libraries, and school chapels. I am one of the few [or many] who went crazy over teenage life,” Paolo added.
He said that attempts by some people to paint them as “unworthy of people’s support and admiration” was “unfair.”
“But we are unperturbed. We are unperturbed because what matters presently are the people that we serve, no more no less,” Paolo said.
He said that despite the growing criticisms, the more the Duterte family becomes stronger.
“[It is] not by disproving them all wrong head-on but by improving on the brand of service we are known to deliver to the people. We are a work in progress,” Paolo said.
He said at the end of the day, the people will judge them not by what they have done while in office.
The mayor’s former wife—Elizabeth Zimmerman—mother to Paolo, Sara and Sebastian, also disowned a statement attributed to her, which “detailed” the “abuses” she suffered when she and Duterte were still living together.
“Since the annulment, we remain friends and I never issued any statement about us, about what we went through,” she said.
“I don’t know about it. If that’s what makes them happy, then let them do it but I know I never said anything about us,” Zimmerman, who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, added.
On the mayor’s habit of cussing on every occasion, Duterte spokesperson Peter Laviña appealed for understanding on the way the mayor speaks. Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao