DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio will skip the last State of the Nation Address (Sona) of her father, President Rodrigo Duterte, slated on July 26, but said she will watch it on TV.
The mayor is not aware if other members of the family will be watching the Sona at the Batasang Pambansa.
Duterte-Carpio revealed that her mother and Duterte's ex-wife Elizabeth Zimmerman will also not attend since she will not attend.
The mayor did not elaborate her reason for not attending Duterte’s Sona.
The presidential daughter had also skipped her father's Sona last year when the entire country was placed under quarantine, months after the Philippines recorded its first Covid-19 case.
Duterte-Carpio’s reasoned during that time that she did not want to undergo a strict health procedure such as having to be tested through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine if she will decide to head back to the city.
"Wala ko plano muadto para musaksi sa Sona kay wa koy plano magpa-RT-PCR (I do not intend to watch the Sona live because I do not plan to undergo an RT-PCR test)," Duterte-Carpio said in an interview last year.
The mayor's brothers, Davao City First District Representative Paolo Duterte and Vice Mayor Sebastian Duterte, have yet to issue a statement on whether they are attending the Sona or not.
The Sona is expected to be in a hybrid format in observance of the minimum public health standards, wherein a limited number of guests will be allowed inside Batasan.