Sara Duterte

Sara Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio (born May 31, 1978), commonly known as Inday Sara, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who is the 15th and current vice president of the Philippines. She is the third female vice president (after Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Leni Robredo), the third vice president to come from Mindanao, and the youngest ever Philippine vice president. A daughter of the 16th president Rodrigo Duterte.^[1][2]

Early years

Sara Zimmerman Duterte was born at Davao Doctors Hospital in Davao City on May 31, 1978. She is the second child to then-lawyer later president Rodrigo Duterte and flight attendant Elizabeth Zimmerman. Her maternal great-grandfather was German American, having fled to the Philippines from the United States.^[1]

Education and law career

Duterte attended San Pedro College, majoring in BS Respiratory Therapy, and graduated in 1999; in her inaugural speech as mayor of Davao City, Duterte said she originally wanted to be a pediatrician instead of a politician. She later took up a law degree from San Beda College but transferred to the San Sebastian College – Recoletos, where she graduated in May 2005. In 2005, Duterte passed the Philippine Bar examination, with a score of 80 percent.^[1]

Fake Jewish ethnicity

On September 30, 2016, Rodrigo Duterte sparked outrage after stating that "Hitler massacred three million Jews... there's three million drug addicts. I'd be happy to slaughter them." Rodrigo Duterte claimed on October 3, 2016, during Rosh Hashanah, that the Zimmerman family is of patrilineal Jewish descent, with Elizabeth Zimmerman's father supposedly having fled to the Philippines from Nazi Germany. In the speech, Duterte said "[..] my wife is a Zimmerman.^[1]

Vice mayor of Davao City (2007–2010)

Sara's father Rodrigo had admitted to initially keeping his family members from entering "the messy and difficult world of politics", but by December 2006, he expressed that he would like for Sara to run as his running mate in the 2007 mayoral elections due to his concern for corrupt politicians taking over and ruining his legacy. Sara Duterte was elected vice mayor in 2007 with over 330,000 votes, defeating lone opponent Jeff Ho and succeeding Luis Bonguyan. Duterte served under her father for one term until 2010, and concurrently served as a regional officer of the National Movement of Young Legislators from 2007 to 2010.^[1]

First term as mayor of Davao City (2010–2013)

In 2010, Duterte was elected mayor, becoming the first female mayor of the city, as well as being the youngest to have been elected, as she turned 32 years old just weeks after being proclaimed winner. She won over House Speaker Prospero Nograles, her father's political rival, in a lead of 200,000 votes in the 2010 elections. Nograles earlier filed a protest at the Commission on Elections in Manila questioning the results, stating that there was a conspiracy of local poll officials.^[1]

Policies

Duterte promoted the city as a tourism and investment destination, introducing the "Davao: Life Is Here" tagline to market the city in 2011.^[1]

Political hiatus (2013–2016)

Duterte decided not to seek re-election in 2013 to give way to her father Rodrigo. She also turned down her father's offer to run for representative of Davao City's 1st district.^[1]

Second and third term as mayor of Davao City (2016–2022)

Duterte ran again for the mayoralty post for Davao City in the 2016 elections and won the position, succeeding her father for the second time. She had her older brother Paolo, and later Bernard Al-ag, as her vice mayors during this term. According to lawyer Salvador Panelo, Duterte had been reluctant in running for mayor, wishing to stay away from politics and instead continue her legal practice, but was eventually convinced by her father.^[1]

Policies

During her second stint as mayor, Duterte initiated Byaheng DO30, consisting of 30 projects addressing ten priority sectors which include "education, health, poverty alleviation, infrastructure development, solid waste management and environment, agriculture, investment and tourism, traffic and transport management, disaster risk reduction and management, and peace and order". Duterte also established the Peace 911 program to address the local communist rebellion through a "human-centered" approach, bringing several government services to far-flung areas. The program was first implemented in the Paquibato district before being expanded to other barangays.^[1]