A father’s love knows no political alignment.
President Duterte will be celebrating Father’s Day on Sunday by meeting his daughter again, with whom he has not been on talking terms since the pre-campaign period.
But it wouldn’t be to reconcile their differences. Instead, Duterte will be in Davao City, their hometown, to support and witness the inauguration of Sara Duterte-Carpio for the vice presidency.
His attendance at the event was confirmed by a Malacañang official as well as by Duterte-Carpio’s spokesperson, Liloan, Cebu Mayor Christina Frasco. However, there is no official schedule of the President for tomorrow from his office.
It would be a momentous event—a political one—for the father and daughter. It’s because they had not talked about anything politics-related recently.
That was according to the President himself, who said early this year they tried to talk about politics but did not end well.
In fact, Duterte was not aware when his daughter filed her candidacy for the vice presidency until the media reported about it.
“Hindi ko nga malaman kung anong nasa utak. Hindi nga kami nag-uusap, eh (I don’t know what going in her mind. We don’t even talk),” Duterte said in a YouTube interview.
Duterte endorsed the latter for the position because she is “hardworking.” But on May 25, he did not attend her proclamation by Congress.
The Vice President-elect, on the other hand, acknowledged his support. She remarked, but without any frills: “I thank President Duterte for endorsing my candidacy for vice president.”
Duterte-Carpio also believed the outgoing President had a different political party from her. She belonged to the Lakas-CMD, while he, PDP-Laban.
The reason behind the apparent cold relationship between the father and daughter remains unclear. However, Duterte said he did not want Duterte-Carpio, then a Davao City mayor, to run for a higher office because he did not want her to experience what he went through.
Amid challenges to the faithfulness of the tandem, Duterte did not publicly express support for Duterte-Carpio’s running mate, President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., until the last day of the campaign.
On Friday, June 17, Duterte acknowledged—even celebrated—that his daughter will be the country’s upcoming vice president. He even quipped that the country, upon the inauguration of his daughter, will have for 11 days two members of the same family occupying the two highest seats.