(Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte was the picture of a very proud and happy “Lolo” (grandfather) when he excitedly visited his newest “apo” (grandson) Marko Digong Duterte Carpio nicknamed baby “Stonefish” in Davao City late Thursday night.
Lolo Digong’s smile as he viewed baby Stonefish at the Davao Doctors’ Hospital’s nursery was captured in film by his trusted aide Christopher “Bong” Go who took to Facebook to post his photos of the newest addition to the presidential family.
The baby is the third child of presidential daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and husband lawyer Manases Carpio. He was born at 12:56 p.m. on Thursday, March 2. Sara was pregnant with triplets but lost two to miscarriage after the Davao City bombing in September last year.
It was baby Stonefish, one of the triplets, who stayed strong inside Sara’s womb and survived.
Sara, after announcing the miscarriage on September 8, said that the doctors told her then that the two fetuses who lost their heartbeat could not yet be extracted so as not to affect the surviving baby.
Upon learning of Stonefish’s birth, President Duterte immediately flew from Cebu, where he earlier gave a speech on the Cebu-Cordova link expressway, to Davao City to see his grandson.
In that event, the President said he would not stop his war on drugs to keep the nation safe.
At the induction of the newly elected officers and trustees of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) in Lapu-Lapu City Cebu, the event that followed, President Duterte said: “I’m really excited to go home… Tuloy ako sa ospital.”
“Ang pangalan daw, Marko Digong. Ganyan talaga yan si Inday, ang palayaw daw Stonefish… Kaawa naman na bata,” he added.
He arrived past 11 p.m. and went straight to the Davao Doctors’ Hospital where Sara gave birth.
“Thank you, Lord, for the gift of life,” Sara’s husband Mans Carpio said.
Malacañang, in a statement, said the President’s resolve to keep the country safe from drugs and crime.
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“The arrival of the Chief Executive’s newest ‘apo’ Stonefish strengthens PRRD’s resolve to leave a legacy of a Philippines safe and secure from drugs and heinous crimes to future generation of Filipinos,” Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said.
Mayor Sara and husband Carpio have two other children nicknamed Sharkie, 7, and Stingray, 3.
