(Eagle News) — Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte resigned from his post today, December 25, 2017, citing “unfortunate events” linked to his first failed marriage, his public squabble with his daughter, and the maligning of his reputation due to the reported shabu smuggling incident at the Bureau of Customs.
Vice-Mayor Duterte also announced his resignation even as the city council was meeting over a deadly mall fire in Davao City where dozens had perished.
The decision stunned the city council members.
“I hereby tender my resignation as vice mayor of Davao City today December 25, 2017,” Paolo Duterte, the eldest son of President Rodrigo Duterte, announced before a surprised city council.
“There are recent unfortunate events in my life that are closely tied to my failed first marriage. These, among others, include the maligning of my reputation in the recent name dropping incident in the Bureau of Customs smuggling case and very public squabble with my daughter,” Duterte said.
He said “the other person in this failed relationship is incorrigible and cannot be controlled.”
“And I take responsibility for all that has happened as a result of a wrong decision to marry at a very young age,” he said.
The Davao City vice-mayor recently posted critical social media posts about her daughter, Isabelle, for her alleged lack of respect for him, and said she was a “disgrace.”
He was reacting then to his daughter’s tweets against him, citing his government position, and berating him in her tweet for allegedly physically hurting a person she knew.
Isabelle Duterte had a recent pre-debut photoshoot in Malacanang that had become controversial.
Paolo Duterte decided to answer his daughter then on his official facebook page, castigating her for her lack of respect and for allegedly embarrassing herself.
In his facebook page, which the Vice-Mayor had already deleted, an enraged Paolo Duterte said he would not keep silent anymore regarding his daughter, “not because I am a Duterte but because I’m a father.”
He also challenged Isabelle “to change your family name if you want” saying “You don’t respect me anymore! You’re embarrassing!”
Paolo had earlier advised his daughter to “go to school so that your brain would not be empty.”
“You don’t know how to listen anymore because you’re now famous? Famous for what Belle? Famous for being rude to your father?” Paolo wrote in Visayan dialect.
Paolo then said he knew that “we will all be shamed with this post.”
“But this is what you wanted. We speak here because you are supposedly a millennial, you only listen here because of the number of likes?” Paolo Duterte said.
“You’re my daughter! I do not give a damn about other people if this is the only way you’d realize what you did,” he added.
Isabelle is Paolo Duterte’s daughter with his former wife, Lovelie Sangkola.
At 3 p.m. today, Paolo deleted his official facebook account.
In his letter where he announced his resignation, Paolo Duterte also said that he had been frequently reminded by his parents about the value of delicadeza or sense of propriety, and said that this was a time for him to prove this.
“When I was growing up, my parents never failed to remind me of the time-honored principle of delicadeza, and this is one of those instances in my life that I need to protect my honor and that of my children,” he said.
“I am grateful to all the Dabawenyos for your support to my office, and I look forward to the day that I will be able to serve the country again,” he added.
Duterte also expressed his sympathies for the families of the victims of severe tropical storm Vinta that had lashed Mindanao, including Davao, with heavy rains resulting in severe floods.
He also condoled with the families of the victims of a Saturday (December 23) mall fire in Davao City where at least 37 are feared to be dead.
