Duterte watches as Baretto sisters fight

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte witnessed the fracas involving the Barretto sisters Gretchen, Marjorie and Claudine when he visited the wake of their patriarch Miguel Alvir Barretto on Wednesday night.

The Chief Executive’s visit to the wake held at the Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig City coincided with that of Gretchen’s, who has long been estranged from her mother Estrella, sister Marjorie and another non- showbiz sibling and their respective families.

Gretchen and Claudine had reconciled in May.

Claudine posted on her Instagram account that their mother and Gretchen had shared an embrace in front of their father’s casket.

But a reliable source said Marjorie was in a furious mood when she heard from Claudine that Gretchen would attend the wake. Marjorie was quoted as saying, “She’s not family.”

The source said Marjorie unleashed a stream of stinging statements against Gretchen. The President tried to intervene between the two sisters and even convinced Gretchen to reach out her hand in peace to Marjorie, but the latter was unyielding and remained livid and ranting throughout the incident.

The “drama” also involved some of the sibling’s nieces and nephews, the source said. She recounted that one niece tried to pull on Gretchen’s hair, but the latter was quick to parry it. One exasperated nephew pleaded with them not to disrespect his grandfather’s wake, while another niece remarked in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear that Gretchen would only be too happy to be the talk of the town again.

“The President saw the whole thing, and boy was he amused,” the source said.

A statement issued by Gretchen confirmed the whole incident.

“It was all so nice until Marjorie had a nervous breakdown. PRRD ( Duterte) was asking Marjorie to shake my hand for the sake of respect of my father, but Marjorie was not happy that I was there to reunite with my family,” Gretchen said in a statement sent to TV Patrol on Thursday night.