The former wife of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Elizabeth Zimmerman (photo from Duterte camp press release)
TAGUM CITY — The former wife of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte launched on Tuesday, April 5, threw her own version of support for the presidential aspirant, and is seen to be a “bittersweet” reunion for the separated couple.
Dubbed “Byaheng DU30,” Elizabeth Zimmerman and other members of the campaign team will traverse Mindanao and Visayas, with Compostela Valley as the starting point. The sortie will last for a month.
“I am doing this for the country’s future. We are doing this for change, real change,” said Zimmerman.
Her daughter, Inday Sara Duterte-Carpio, and 20 other volunteers are joining Zimmerman for the entire duration of the trip. Meanwhile, Duterte-Carpio was also reported to have brought along her children, Sharkie and Stingray.
‘Bittersweet reunion’ in Visayas?
Duterte-Carpio said that through her mother’s campaign, Elizabeth and Duterte will have a “bittersweet” reunion, which will probably happen in Visayas.
“Some people are ‘negative’ about it, but we may have have been separated but we are friends,” she said. “We may be annulled in the courts, but we were married in the church and the Catholic church never anulled our marriage,” said Zimmerman.
It can be recalled that it was Zimmerman who reportedly convinced her children to support calls for Duterte to run for president.
When pressed to ask why she decided to help and why now, Elizabeth said she “wanted to help him because he is still part of my family, he is the father of my children.”
Cancer treatment
Zimmerman, the brainchild of “Byaheng DU30,” is said to be battling stage 3 breast cancer. For the month-long campaign, she asked her doctor to suspend the radiation treatments until the campaign is over.
“I have already had 15 sessions of the series of sessions. It can wait. All my medicines are in my bag.”
Earlier, when she told her doctor about her plan to join the campaign, there was a concern over the radiation sessions that she will be able to skip.
“My doctor told me I can skip for just a week, but I told him no, I want to be in the campaign for one month,” she said. Zimmerman has refused to call this an act of sacrifice. “I do not consider this an act of sacrifice,” she said.
Ex-husband: she wants to meet my supporters
It can be recalled that it was Zimmerman who reportedly convinced her children to support calls for Duterte to run for president.
“It was her idea that we go around Visayas and Mindanao on board a bus,” the mayoral candidate of Davao said. “She wants to meet the people and answer their questions about Rody.”
The main objective of the caravan is to go around Visayas and Mindanao to thank the supporters of Duterte. (davaotoday.com)
