Proud grandpa Digong with grandson and namesake, Marko Digong —PHOTO FROM CHRISTOPHER GO’S FACEBOOK PAGE
DAVAO CITY—Not another Digong.
But who’s to stop Mayor Sara Duterte, who obviously wanted to show how much she respects and loves her old man enough to name her newborn after him?
The baby’s official name, Marko Digong, was announced by City Information Officer Jefrey Tupas on Friday, although his nickname, Stonefish, had already been disclosed by Sara a few months back.
Digong is the nickname of President Duterte, although he also uses Rody.
As to why Marko, a Russian name that means “Of Mars, the god of war,” nobody really knows. No one from the mayor’s circle nor the President would issue a comment.
Tupas believed that it was Sara’s “proof of love” for her father that she picked the President’s nickname as part of Stonefish’s legal name.
Presidential aide Christopher Go told the Inquirer in a text message that Mr. Duterte was happy with the legal name that Sara and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, had given Stonefish.
Go said it was not true that the President would have wanted another name for the baby.
But while Mr. Duterte was thrilled about his new grandson, he was left baffled by the nickname that his daughter gave the baby boy.
“I am very excited to go home. I’d be flying home directly. I’d go straight to the hospital because the name would be Marko Digong,” Mr. Duterte said in a speech before Cebu businessmen on Thursday night.
Unusual nicknames
Mr. Duterte could not help but comment on the new baby’s moniker.
He took note of his daughter’s penchant for unusual nicknames for her children.
“Inday [Sara’s nickname] is really like that. The other is Stingray. This one will be nicknamed Stonefish,” he said.
“Kawawa naman ang bata (Poor child),” he said.
Sara’s daughter Mikhaila Maria, 8, is nicknamed Sharky. Stingray is 4-year-old Mateo Lucas.
Sara wanted her son to be her father’s namesake despite frequent squabbles between her and the President over many things, which would go as serious as months of not speaking to each other.
During the campaign period, the President himself admitted that Sara would not speak to him but did not elaborate on the reason.
Even then, she tirelessly campaigned for him and would even regularly post on social media messages that read: “Honor thy Father and Mother.”
On Thursday evening, Go posted on his Facebook account a photo of him and a smiling Sara, who was still in bed, while the President met Stonefish for the first time in another room.
A photo of a smiling Mr. Duterte in a bouffant cap and scrubs was also posted by Go on Facebook.
Stonefish, born via cesarean section at 12:56 p.m. on Thursday, had remained in an incubator.
He weighed 2.42 kilograms and is healthy, according to the initial announcement made by Tupas.
Stonefish is the President’s 10th grandchild. His son, Davao Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, has five children, while the youngest, Baste, has two.
The latest birth has inspired the President to work harder to make the Philippines a safer place, and strengthened his “resolve to leave a legacy of a Philippines safe and secure from drugs and heinous crimes [for] future generations of Filipinos,” presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said. —ALLAN NAWAL AND LEILA SALAVERRIA