WHAT WENT BEFORE: Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte’s resignation

PaoloDuterte (left) and lawyer Manases Carpio —INQUIRER PHOTO

Before presidential son Paolo Duterte announced his resignation as Davao City vice mayor on Monday, he was thrust into the limelight when his name was dragged into several controversies this year.

In a resignation letter he read during a special session of the city council, he cited his failed first marriage, the dragging of his name into the P6.4-billion worth of shabu shipment that slipped past the Bureau of Customs (BOC), and his “very public squabble” with his daughter, Isabelle, as reasons for his resignation.

READ: Paolo Duterte quits as Davao City vice mayor

Duterte was previously married to Lovelie Sangkola, who comes from a Tausūg-Maranao family. Their marriage ended in 2005. Sangkola went on to marry RJ Sumera and Duterte married January Navares.

Just last Dec. 22, Duterte and his daughter from Sangkola, Isabelle, engaged in a controversial word war.

The squabble started when Isabelle ranted on her Twitter account about how Duterte should not physically hurt somebody “just because you have a position in the city.”

Responding to Isabelle’s posts, Duterte took to his official Facebook page his message to his daughter.

“It’s not that if you have been pimped twice by that person, I will keep my silence. And if your mother would no longer care if she gets something in return, I would not. It’s not because I am a Duterte but because I’m a father,” Paolo wrote.

He even challenged Isabelle “to change (her) family name if (she) wanted.”

READ: Word war between Paolo Duterte, daughter Isabelle erupts

Months prior having a heated argument with his daughter, Duterte also took the limelight in September after he was tagged by Senator Antonio Trillanes as behind an alleged “drug triad” based on a “dragon-like” tattoo on his back.

During the earlier Senate blue ribbon panel hearings, Customs fixer Mark Taguba II bared that the alleged “Davao Group” facilitated smuggling at the BOC in exchange for grease money.

READ: Trillanes: ‘Dragon-like’ tattoo links Paolo Duterte to ‘triad’

Duterte and his brother-in-law Manases Carpio were also accused of being linked to the powerful Davao Group, which they both denied.

Taguba later apologized to Duterte and Carpio for dragging their names into the controversy, saying his claims were only “hearsay.”

But last Oct. 10, the Senate blue ribbon committee chaired by Senator Richard Gordon recommended a lifestyle check on Duterte and Carpio. /je

READ: EXCLUSIVE: Gordon’s panel to ask NBI for lifestyle check on Duterte’s son, son-in-law