President Duterte Welcomes Newest Grandson From Daughter, Mayor Sara

President Rodrigo Duterte congratulated daughter Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio and her husband Manases on the birth of his newest grandson, Stonefish.

“The President is delighted with the arrival of his newest ‘apo’, and he is glad that both Mayor Inday Sara and Stonefish are healthy and stable,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said.

The President and Stonefish have the same birth month. Duterte is celebrating his birthday on March 28.

According to Abella, the arrival of the President’s newest grandson strengthens Duterte’s resolve to leave a legacy of a Philippines that is safe and secure from drugs and heinous crimes.

At 12:56 noon Thursday, Sara gave birth by caesarean section to the healthy baby boy at Davao Doctor’s Hospital.

Nicknamed Stonefish, the baby weighs 2.42 kilos or 5.3 pounds.

This was confirmed by City Hall chief Information Officer Jefry Tupas in a press statement.

Tupas said Sara’s husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, was thankful. He even posted in his Facebook account: “Thank you, Lord, for the gift of life”.

Carpio also announced that Sara is “stable” and “generally fine.”

Sara is the 10th mother in Mindanao who successfully gave birth through the in vitro fertilization (IVF) offered by Brokenshire Hospital, which opened its IVF facility in October 2015.

The IVF facility is the first in Mindanao aimed at providing a more affordable operation compared to that in Luzon and Mindanao.

IVF is a process by which an egg is fertilized by sperm outside the body. It is a medical procedure where the egg cell and the sperm cell are extracted from the couple to join them in the laboratory.

After the fertilized egg or embryo is formed which takes about two weeks to develop, it will be injected in the uterus of the woman.

Last year, a Muslim mother gave birth to Mindanao’s first test tube baby at the Brokenshire Hospital.

Baby boy Muhagher was the first baby born to Gamal and Mydean Pagul from a successful pregnancy through the IVF offered by Brokenshire Hospital.

The couple is from Wa-o, Lanao del Sur. Gamal works as Jail Officer of the Bureau of Jail Management in Wa-o while Mydean is a public school teacher in Wa-o. (PNA)LAP/LILIAN C. MELLEJOR