DAVAO CITY—Mayor Sara Duterte on Saturday reacted sharply to a tweet by forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun on her pregnancy, which she called a form of malediction.
A malediction is defined as a word or phrase uttered to bring about evil or destruction, a curse.
In her Aug. 19 tweet on the Inquirer story on Sara’s announcement that she was seven weeks pregnant with triplets, Fortun wrote: “Too early to rejoice over 7 weeker lalo na triplets. Wait for delivery and spare oneself from heartache.”
She ended with “PR for Lolo?”
In her Instagram post, Sara admitted her announcement of her pregnancy was indeed some kind of public relations.
“Ah yes [it’s] PR but before you tweet, read the PR first so you won’t look like a dirty bittermelon,” Sara responded.
She said the announcement of her pregnancy was meant to explain her absence from several public gatherings in Davao City, including those relating to the Kadayawan Festival, which started on Aug. 15.
Earlier, she admitted she was having a hard time with her condition, “as well as complications of multifetal pregnancy,” and that her doctor had advised her to avoid crowded places to “lessen the chances of acquiring infection.”
‘On top of things’
But even then, Sara said she continued to work as mayor even when she was “physically weak,” and “I am on top of the situation in our city.”
“Please take note that public officials need to explain their absence from important events. And when I do get the heartache, it will still be a media blitz and when we defy the odds it will be a PR fiesta and you will still be Miss Bittermelon,” Sara wrote Fortun on her Instagram account.
She said the problem with Fortun was that she did not like her father, the President.
“The problem with you miss is you don’t like the grandfather and you curse the fetuses. There are three of them, which means that bad karma would be threefold too,” Sara said.
She ended her post with some advice to Fortun: “Turn off your Twitter, do your work, mind your own business and spare yourself the heartache.”
Fortun earned the ire of netizens over her post but a sober one came from @ladyshellane who wrote: “@Doc4Dead @inquirerdotnet lets be happy for Sara and her family.”
To this, Fortun replied: “There was a time when people were more discerning abt what’s personal and public. But what do I know I’m not celeb.” TVJ