Sara Duterte on recent Manila trip: I was on personal leave

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte went on leave from June 11 to June 15 for "personal activities".

The daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte said she arrived in Manila on June 11 and went back to Davao City on the night of June 15.

“I was on leave June 11-15. The Vice Mayor was the acting Mayor,” Sara told GMA News Online. Her brother Sebastian, or Baste, is the city's vice mayor.

On Tuesday, Sara attended the celebration of the birthday of the late Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago at a hotel in Ortigas, Pasig City.

A source close to the mayor said she also dined with Sen. Imee Marcos in Metro Manila during the trip.

To recall, Imee and her brother, former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. visited the presidential daughter during her birthday celebration in May.

The source also mentioned Duterte’s meeting with San Pedro Laguna Vice Mayor Art Mercado and his wife.

Davao surge

Sara hit the headlines on Monday after she criticized Vice President Leni Robredo, who expressed alarm in her radio show over the number of COVID-19 cases in Davao City.

The mayor accused Robredo of politicking, and said the vice president should refrain from giving advice “if she knows nothing about what is happening on the ground.”

Robredo in her radio program on Sunday said Davao City's numbers were a cause for alarm especially if it would be compared to Quezon City, which had a larger population. The Robredo camp has denied that politics were related to her expression of concern for Davao City.

In early part of June, OCTA Research said Davao City has surpassed Quezon City in having the highest average number of daily COVID-19 cases. The national government has placed Davao City under modified enhanced community quarantine from June 5 to 20 to stem the spread of the disease.

Davao City on Wednesday reported that it had registered a positivity rate at 7.57% on all COVID-19 tests conducted on June 13,2021, higher than the positivity rate threshold at 5 percent set by the World Health Organization.

It said that a total of 13,823 of 261,855 individuals swabbed through the said date has tested positive for the COVID-19.

In her comments against Robredo, the Davao City mayor said 85% of the cases were asymptomatic, which were "primarily identified by aggressive testing, coupled with tracing and isolation/quarantining.""

The city's COVID-19 Task Force spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser said the high positivity rate indicates that the Davao City government is maximizing its testing capacity. Schlosser maintained that the increase in the number of cases in Davao City does not mean that the government is failing in its fight against the virus.

Decision to run

In an exclusive interview with GMA News’ Ian Cruz Tuesday, the presidential daughter said there are no talks about politics during the event for the late Defensor-Santiago.

In the same interview, she said it was too early to decide whether or not to run for president.

"We still have until October 8, iyong deadline ng filing ng candidacy," Sara said.

In a survey conducted by Pulse Asia on February 22 to March 3, 2021, the younger Duterte emerged as the top choice for president by respondents. —NB, GMA News