FPRRD tells Filipinos to forget about him, focus on their lives
By Ivy Tejano
REP. Duterte
DAVAO CITY – Davao City first district Rep. Paolo Z. Duterte said his father, former President Duterte, appealed to the Filipino people to focus on their lives and forget about him as he is already old.
Rep. Duterte thanked the people standing by his father during these trying times.
“To the Filipino people, thank you for your sincere support and prayers for my father. We truly appreciate it,” said Rep. Duterte in a meeting with supporters of his father outside the International Criminal Court detention center at The Hague, Netherlands, on Wednesday, July 2.
Rep. Duterte shared updates about his father’s condition and the changing roles within their family during the gathering.
He described his latest visit to his father as a generally positive encounter.
Rep. Duterte said that he informed the former President that it would be his last visit for now and that his mother, Elizabeth Zimmerman, would be visiting regularly.
“He (former President Duterte) is doing fine so far,” Rep. Duterte said. “He said, in jest, he’ll just try to look pitiful to avoid getting scolded.”
Rep. Duterte confirmed that Mikhaila Maria “Sharkey” Duterte Carpio, daughter of Vice President Sara Duterte, will join grandmother Elizabeth in future visits.
Rep. Duterte said father removed his jacket in front of his grandchildren to show how much weight he has lost.
The sight moved the family, especially Rep. Duterte’s first daughter, Sabina, with wife, January, who asked her grandfather to eat more. But the Duterte patriarch struggles with appetite and reportedly misses his usual meals.
“He misses his comfort food, like ‘tuyo,’ (dried fish) but you can’t bring that in. The whole detention area might end up smelling like it,” Rep. Duterte said.