LIPA CITY, Batangas – “Alam na ng lahat na anak ka ni Rodrigo. Dapat malaman ng tao na anak ka din ni Elizabeth.”
Heeding this admonition from her mother, Elizabeth Zimmerman-Duterte, Hugpong ng Pagbabago chairperson and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte put an abrupt end to a verbal tussle with Vice President Leni Robredo over the issue of honesty in political campaign.
Like her father, President Duterte, Mayor Duterte does not mince words in retaliating to attacks from critics.
Before being advised by her mother to stand down, the feisty city mayor was engaged in a well-publicized argument with Vice President Leni Robredo.
Elizabeth, who is estranged to President Duterte, called her only daughter over the phone shortly after the Davao City mayor was met here by Mayor Meynardo Sabili, his wife, Bernadette, and the estimated 10,000 people that attended the Hugpong senatorial campaign sortie at the Lipa Academy of Sports, Culture, and Arts here.
Mayor Duterte told reporters that she was told to end her feud with opposition personalities and stop acting like a “bully.”
“Sinabi rin niya na I should be kind first before anything else,” she said.
Duterte said she is heeding her mother’s advise although she clarified that she was merely responding to the accusations hurled against her by opposition personalities, particularly Robredo. “So pack up na si Inday Sara show. So sarado na po siya,” the HNP senatorial campaign manager said.
Duterte, who led a group of big bike enthusiasts in a one-hour ride from Los Banos, Laguna to Lipa City, had been on the offensive as she assailed Robredo for criticizing her on the issue of honesty in the campaign.
A few minutes before receiving her mother’s call, Mayor Duterte sent text messages assailing Robredo’s brand of courage.
Mayor Duterte chided anew the second most powerful leader in the country, accusing her of hiding behind the cloak of anonymity as they debate on honesty and integrity in public service.
Mayor Duterte and Robredo, likely to face each other in the 2022 presidential race, have been arguing over the honesty issue after the presidential daughter tried to downplay Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos’s alleged bogus school records.
“A reminder to Leni Robredo: Kapag umatake ka, at sinagot ka ng inatake mo to question your authority to speak on integrity and honesty, do not retreat behind a “Robredo Camp” to answer for you and the argument you started,” said Mayor Duterte. She added: “It says a lot about your fake courage.”
In Calamba City, Laguna Saturday, Duterte questioned Robredo’s victory in the 2016 vice presidential race, saying that she remains a “fake vice president” because of the pending electoral protest against her.
“Yung electoral protest; her attempt to copy her late husband, Secretary Jesse Robredo (which) fails; and her refusal to address het relationship to a married man,” Duterte told reporters. (Ben Rosario)
