27/10/2021
Sara to Tulfo: “I deserve an apology”
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte on Wednesday pens a letter addressed to columnist Ramon T. Tulfo and The Philippine Star.
This was in response to Tulfo’s article “entitled “Plan C” in his column Sentinel on Oct. 26, 2021” which dwelled on her relationship with his father President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his long time ally Senator B**g Go and alleged plans to form a tandem with presidential aspirant former Senator B**gbong Marcos in the 2022 elections.
Describing the allegations as “chismis,” the First Daughter says “the article betrayed how The Philippine STAR values its credibility and integrity as one of the country’s leading sources of news and information.”
“At face value, it’s not very hard to know that Mr. Tulfo was peddling wild conjectures, lies, intrigues and chismis in this Plan C article, which entirely was based on hearsay.”
Read her full letter here:
This is about the article written by Mr. Ramon T. Tulfo entitled “Plan C” in his column Sentinel on Oct. 26, 2021. The article betrayed how The Philippine STAR values its credibility and integrity as one of the country’s leading sources of news and information. At face value, it’s not very hard to know that Mr. Tulfo was peddling wild conjectures, lies, intrigues and chismis in this Plan C article, which entirely was based on hearsay.
Of the more than 20 Plan C paragraphs, seven were devoted to pure chismis about me, President Rodrigo Duterte and Senator B**g Go.
Let me quickly and simply break it down for you.
Chismis: My little birdies in Cebu said that Sara might just run as B**gbong’s party-mate to upset Sen. Christopher “B**g” Go, who’s running for the vice presidency.
Chismis: She also wants to unsettle her father, President Digong.
Chismis: Several times during the party, Sara expressed abhorrence over Go’s close bonding with her father, according to one of my little birdies (By little birdy I mean sources, not the other meaning. – RTT).
Chismis: Sara implied that even after getting elected senator, B**g Go continues to be “servile” – that’s not my choice of wording, but of my little birdies – to Digong.
Chismis: There’s nothing wrong with B**g being a servant to her father, Sara implied; it’s just that she and her siblings can’t go directly to the President without passing through him.
Chismis: As we all know, there’s bad blood between daughter and father.
Chismis: Sara hasn’t gotten over her parents’ separation; she sides with her mother, Elizabeth Zimmerman, a Filipino-German who’s a former Philippine Airlines flight attendant.
The rest of the article was either unimportant, given or another load of hogwash and untruths that we’ve all heard before.
Plan C was stitched by someone that no self-respecting individual – much more a member of the media – should find inspiration from.
Mr. Tulfo’s article should be found not in any of the main pages of The Philippine STAR – unless The Philippine STAR is a rumormonger publication or a tabloid that serves people like Mr. Tulfo.
This brings me to inevitably question the vetting process that your newspaper observes and follows before publishing articles.
Lastly, as the object of Mr. Tulfo’s journalistic irresponsibility, courtesy of The Philippine STAR, I deserve an apology – however, I am not expecting.
Daghang salamat.
– Mayor Inday Sara Duterte, Davao City
JOSE RONALD F. SIONGCO/GDM
PHOTO: Ramon Tulfo
