President Rodrigo Duterte performs a duet with his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, during a thanksgiving event at the Peninsula Manila in Makati, June 24, 2019. Karl Norman Alonzo, Presidential Photo/File
MANILA - Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Wednesday faced the Commission on Appointments, but instead of being quizzed about her promotion as Army reserve colonel, she was asked why her father President Rodrigo Duterte is "afraid" of her.
Duterte has repeatedly praised his daughter's political influence in separate events, citing her role in the ouster of Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez as House Speaker hours before his third State of the Nation Address in 2018.
"Why does the President, your father, repeatedly say that he is afraid of you?" Sen. Imee Marcos, a Duterte ally, asked Duterte-Carpio during a confirmation hearing at the Senate.
The Davao City mayor belied the observation, saying: "That is something I think is just in his mind because I have always supported him."
"Admittedly, initially, I did not support his intention to run for president but belatedly I did," she said.
"I told him that, 'The only way I can help you as president of the Philippines is make sure that Davao City continues on to be a progressive and developed city in Mindanao," said Duterte-Carpio, who took over the Davao City mayoralty, which her father long held, after his election as President.
While the President and his daughter had taken different positions on several issues, Duterte-Carpio assured the panel that she will always support her father.
"Whatever his decision is in his personal, and his career decisions and his politics," she said.
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