DAVAO CITY — (UPDATED) President Rodrigo Duterte had every right to fly home to Davao City as he is the country's topmost "frontliner," said his daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Monday.

"So wala nay mas frontliner pa sa atong tanan sa presidente sa atong nasud," said Duterte-Carpio in a live interview on Davao City Disaster Radio.

(He's the top frontliner as president of our country.)

Duterte-Carpio also cited Section 7, number 2 of the Omnibus Guidelines on the Implementation of Community Quarantine in the Philippines, where "movement as such of the following person within and across areas placed under any form of community quarantine shall be permitted: government officials and government frontline personnel."

The President made the trip to Davao Saturday, as Metro Manila eased its lockdown measures to a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ), under which domestic flights remain barred.

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However, the president's daughter did not disclose the president's activities in Davao, as it is the duty of the presidential spokesperson.

It was the first time for the President to return home since the March lockdown, which halted transport and restricting movement in the capital region. He had spent his​ 75th birthday under quarantine in Malacañang in March.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, who also serves as vice chair of the National Task Force against COVID-19, also defended Duterte, saying the President was exempted from flight restrictions being the highest official of the land.

"I think the President’s flight is one of those exemptions being the highest official of the land. He has the authority to go anywhere he wants and being the chief executive, chief implementor of all the laws of the land he can go wherever he wants as long as health standards and protocol are observed," Año told ANC on Monday.

• Duterte return to Davao an exemption on ban on domestic flights: official

Metro Manila, Laguna, and 6 areas in Central Luzon were placed under MECQ from Saturday, while the cities of Cebu and Mandaue remain on strict lockdown to contain the disease following appeal from local officials.

All other areas in the country are under general community quarantine or GCQ, that would allow almost all industries to operate up to 75 percent except amusement and those with mass gatherings.

—Reports from Hernel Tocmo, ABS-CBN News