Sara-Alvarez conflict erupts

Davao City Mayor and presidential daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio lambasted House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez for messing “with the wrong girl” after the latter allegedly said she is part of the political opposition.

Alvarez, secretary-general of the ruling PDP-Laban party, denied the allegation and said he was confident that he will be able to iron out the issue.

“Alam mo, sa totoo lang, wala talaga akong sinabing ganyan. Hindi ko alam kung saan nanggaling yung kuwento na iyan, pero wala akong sinasabi na part of opposition,” Alvarez told reporters during a PDP-Laban event in Bataan yesterday.

Alvarez said someone might have fed Sara the wrong information.

“Paano naman… paano magiging part ng opposition, administration nga siya? Baka mali lang yung… mayroon lang nagsabi na mali siguro. Okay lang yun, walang problema,” he said.

He also said he supports the President, who ran and won as president under the PDP-Laban banner in 2016, and will continue to support him.

In a series of Instagram posts on Thursday, Duterte-Carpio castigated Alvarez and even called him an “a***le.” “Kung a***le ka sa Congress, don’t bring that to Davao, leave it in Manila. Somebody should tell the President what you are doing. How dare you call me part of the opposition. Kapal ng mukha mo. You messed with the wrong girl,” read Duterte-Carpio’s post.

The conflict between Duterte-Carpio and Alvarez erupted when the Davao mayor spearheaded the creation of regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago in Region 11, instead of joining PDP-Laban.

Duterte-Carpio said the new party has her father’s blessing.

“I would like everyone to know, including the Speaker of the House, that the unity I forged with the four governors of Region 11 has the blessing of President Rodrigo Duterte,” she said in a statement.

The mayor got mad after learning of the Speaker’s purported reaction to the creation of the regional party.

Alvarez was quoted in an ABSCBN report as saying that the creation of the new party shows how political dynasties behave in the Philippines, insinuating that there might be a problem between the mayor and her father. /