DAVAO CITY — Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Z. Duterte said his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, has asked the Filipino people to move on with their lives and forget about him, saying he is already old.
Rep. Duterte expressed gratitude to those who continue to show support for 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,” he said during a meeting with supporters gathered outside the International Criminal Court detention center in 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 his 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, 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. (Ivy Tejano)
