Here's a question on the emerging dynamics between Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio and former senator Bongbong Marcos: Why does she refer to him as "Apo" BBM?

No silly, the presidential daughter isn't suggesting that Marcos is her grandson, as in the tagalog word "apo" (a-POH).

Instead, the word apo (AH-po) as used by Duterte-Carpio in an honorific heard from Ilocanos--the ethnolinguistic group in northern Philippines that the presidential candidate belongs to. But again, the question is why affix apo before Marcos's name?

The simplest answer is that Duterte-Carpio is just showing deference to Marcos's age. And there's a significant difference between the two, with the Davao mayor being 43 and the ex-lawmaker being 64. Indeed, "Kuya" BBM or "Tito" BBM just wouldn't cut it.

While deference due to age is not a false assumption, being addressed as apo in Ilocandia doesn't necessarily mean that you're a sexagenarian, or older.

The very root of the apo honorific according to Ilocanos interviewed by this reporter is quite simply, respect. A person of respectable stature, or whoever did something of import, can be addressed as apo.

In the case of Marcos, he is an ex-senator, a former governor of Ilocos Norte, and--like Duterte-Carpio--the child of a Philippine president.

This notwithstanding, no extraordinary feat or accomplishment is needed for a person to be called apo. In a typical Ilocano household, the elder folks are referred to as apo. Thus the expected greeting, "Naimbag nga bigat/ rabii apo (Good morning/ evening apo)," when visiting such abode.

Suffice it to say then that Duterte-Carpio chose to give her May 2022 partner the honor and respect that she believes he deserves, using the word that the latter would usually hear back home.

Marcos is the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) standard-bearer while his running mate Duterte-Carpio is the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats' (CMD) vice presidential bet.