Duterte cried hard at his parents graveyard at 3:am today, hours after partial election
results showed he is leading.
Presidential front-runner Rodrigo Duterte
broke into tears as he asked his parents to help him rile the country
"Tabangi ko ma," Duterte called on
his mother Soledad whom he missed so much.
A confessed Mama"s boy, Duterte said he
long wanted to cry aloud but was too busy for the campaign.
Duterte's late father Vicente used to be the
Governor of the undivided Davao while his mother Nanay Soleng was a public
school teacher.
The following are excerpts from an Inquirer article, 'Duterte matriarch dies at 95', by Germelina Lacorte when Duterte's mother, "Nanay Soleng", passed away in February 2012:
Soledad Roa Duterte, the mother of Vice Mayor
Rodrigo Duterte and grandmother of Mayor Sara Duterte, passed away at 3 a.m.
Saturday. She was 95.
Duterte, fondly called “Nanay Soleng” among
the people of Davao, spent her life as a teacher and as wife of former Governor
Vicente Duterte of the undivided Davao, which extended to Cateel, Davao
Oriental, to Don Marcelino town in Davao del Sur. She used to be involved in
various civic projects in the city.
Before her death, she actively oversaw the
Soledad Duterte Foundation, which carried out livelihood and skills training to
indigenous communities in Marahan, near the boundary area of Bukidnon province.
Nanay Soleng was at the forefront of the
Yellow Friday Movement of Davao, which helped fan the February EDSA Revolution
that pushed former President Cory Aquino to power. She was at first reluctant
to let her son enter politics, saying “one politician in the family is enough,”
but eventually gave way to his decision.
Gabriela Partylist Representative Luz Ilagan
remembers Nanay Soleng as the moving force during the early years of women’s
organizing in Davao, which dated back to the martial law years.
“She was already a woman activist long before
the term was coined,” Ilagan said.
“She showed us through example how to be
committed and be strong in the face of adversities. Davao was heavily
militarized, we had no resources, we had our own families to raise, we were
still learning the ropes in alliance work; and there she was, a teacher, a
fund-raiser, an organizer, an inspirational model and a friend, not to mention,
‘inahan sa kanunay nga panabang (mother of perpetual help),” Ilagan added.
