WHILE in Vientiane, Laos for the 28th and 29th Asean Summits, President Rodrigo Duterte confessed to have shed tears upon knowledge of her daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio’s miscarriage.
From being lively and proud as the President was sharing the good things which happened during his week-long trip abroad to meet with foreign leaders in a press conference he held at the departure area of the Davao International Airport early on Saturday, everyone felt the atmosphere change as he relayed emotionally his reaction on the unfortunate news.
“I went to the bathroom, I cried,” he said.
Duterte said somebody informed him through a call while he and his team were waiting at the lobby of the hotel where they were staying for the summits.
He also informed that his daughter, Duterte-Carpio, has always had a delicate pregnancy.
“When somebody called me [and told me about Sara’s miscarriage], I went to bathroom because I was at the lobby. I cried,” Duterte said.
“These are the things in life that you cannot deal by just [ignoring it]. You have to heal yourself,” he added.
It can recalled from previous reports that the Davao mayor, who announced her pregnancy on August 19, was also advised by her physician to keep herself from crowded places; thus, her reason for missing the Kadayawan Festival.
But due to the responsibilities she had to make, Duterte-Carpio went all over the city to check and assist the families and victims of the Roxas Night Market explosion on September 2 (Friday) which killed 14 and injured 70.
On Thursday, the mayor informed the public of the fetal demise - two of her triplets were lost. She said it during the change of command ceremony at the Task Force Davao office.
In this context, the president said “these are the things in life where you have to heal yourself”.
“She’s an employee of the government as well as I am, we are just workers of the government,” he added.
On the other hand, the president said the police are on its foot trying to identify the perpetrators of the explosion. He once again remarked, "there will be a day of reckoning".
On Thursday, the younger Duterte said that her attending physician had told her that two of the triplets in her womb “do not have heartbeats anymore” while the third fetus "is still fighting for life."
Sara is the second of Duterte's three children with his estranged wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman. She is married to Lawyer Manases Carpio and has two children.
Shortly after the mayor took a three-week leave of absence in July, she announced last August 19 that she was pregnant with triplets and was advised to "avoid crowded places to lessen the chances of acquiring infections."
“The human body is made to carry just one baby and I am experiencing threefold pregnancy symptoms that a woman goes through,” she said.
But upon learning that only one had survived, she admitted that she “cried all day.” (With Sunnex)