MANILA, Philippines — “Let the people decide.”
This was President Rodrigo Duterte’s advice to his eldest son, Paolo Duterte, saying he never suggested to his son to quit after he resigned from his local government post due to family problems and allegations of drug smuggling.
In a statement on Monday, Paolo told the people of Davao City, where he served as vice mayor, he was resigning because of "recent unfortunate events in my life that are closely tied to my failed first marriage.”
He cited allegations of links to drug smuggling and a recent sour social media spat with his own daughter.
In a media interview on Tuesday, Duterte said he never asked Paolo to resign, adding that it was up to his son to do “what is right.”
The president also said his son must have had enough of the accusations hurled against him.
“Sabi ko sa kanya (I told him), ‘You are in a position to do what is right. Kung ano lang ang tama sa iyo, gawin mo (Do what you think is the right thing),’” Duterte recalled telling Paolo.
“Napuno na siguro (He must have had enough)... Sabi ko (I said), ‘Well, let the people decide,” he added.
In the same Monday statement, the 42-year-old presidential son said he “takes responsibility for all that has happened” after he made headlines this year.
"These among others, include the maligning of my reputation in the recent name-dropping incident in the Bureau of Customs smuggling case and the very public squabble with my daughter," he said.
Davao Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, the president's daughter, said Monday she was unaware if her brother's resignation had been accepted.
Last week, Paolo and his teenage daughter Isabelle aired their dirty laundry in public when they got in a heated exchange on the internet, after Isabelle criticized her father on social media.
Although Isabelle’s posts were not publicly available, Paolo said without elaborating in an expletive-laced rant on Facebook that his daughter had "embarrassed" herself with her attitude.
The presidential granddaughter had also grabbed the attention of many after her pre-debut photos, showing her in designer gowns while posing at the Malacañan palace, went viral on social media.
Early this year, a broker who facilitated a P6.4 billion shipment of illegal drugs from China pinned Paolo and his brother-in-law Mans Carpio for their supposed involvement in a group of drug smugglers in the Bureau of Customs.
Paolo attended a Senate panel probe into the issue. He however refused to show a supposed tattoo on his back that Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV alleged was proof of his membership in an international criminal syndicate.
The Duterte clan has dominated Davao politics for decades, with the president also having served as the city's long-time mayor.