Sara Duterte Age, Husband, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sara Duterte

• Sara Duterte was born and raised in Davao City, Philippines.

• She is the eldest daughter of former Philippines’s president Rodrigo Duterte and flight attendant Elizabeth Zimmerman. Her maternal great-grandfather was German American, who had fled to Philippines from the United States.

• In an interview, Sara revealed that she had a love hate relationship with her father during her childhood, as she didn’t like her father’s womanizing and late-night lifestyle.

• In 1990s, when her parents got separated, Sara stayed with her mother. Despite her love hate relationship with her father, her father considered Sara his favourite child among all.

• In 1999, Duterte completed her bachelor of science degree majorly in Respiratory Therapy. In her inaugural speech as mayor of Davao City, Duterte said she originally wanted to be a paediatrician instead of a politician.

• However, she dropped her mind and later took up a law degree from San Beda College but transferred to the San Sebastian College – Recoletos, where she graduated in May 2005.

• In 2005, she appeared in the Philippines Bar examination, and passed the bar exam with a score of 80 percent.

• After that Sara worked for a few months as a court attorney at the office of Supreme Court Associate Justice Romeo Callejo Sr.

• In an interview, Sara mentioned that initially her father did not want his family to join politics; however, in December 2006, he expressed that he wanted from Sara to contested in the 2007 mayoral elections due to his concern for corrupt politicians taking over and ruining his legacy.
  

  Sara Duterte with her father (left) and her husband (right), when she filed her candidacy for the 2007 mayor elections

• In 2007, Sara Duterte won the vice mayor election with over 330,000 votes. Until 2010, she served under her father for one term. Additionally, she served as a regional officer of the National Movement of Young Legislators from 2007 to 2010.

• In 2009, she joined Philippines military reserve force and as of 2026 she rose to the rank of Colonel.

• In 2010, Sara was elected as mayor of Davao City and became the first female mayor of the city. She was also the youngest mayor to be elected, as she turned 32 years just weeks after being elected as mayor.

• From 2010 to 2013, during her first term as mayor, Duterte also served as officer in the National Executive Board of the League of Cities Philippines.

• In December 2010, she was appointed as the Chairperson of the Regional Development Council (RDC) Region XI by then President Benigno Aquino III. After her appointment, she became the first woman from the government sector since the reorganization of the council in 1986.

• On 1 July 2011, she gained national attention, when she caught in controversy with Abe Andres, a Davao City Regional Trial Court sheriff, over the demolition of shanties in Barangay Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Sr., Agdao, Davao City. She punched him on his face. She requested the court todelay the demolition; however, Andres refused her request and pushed through with the violent demolition that made her angry, so she punched him on his face.

• On 11 July 2011, Sheriffs Confederation of the Philippines Inc. filed a complaint against Duterte. After one year, on 28 July 2012 she publicly apologized to Andres and his family.

• In 2013, she did not run for the mayor post and give her way to her father. She also not accepted her father’s offer to run for representative of Davao City’s 1st district in Philippines. Her elder brother, Paolo Duterte was elected as vice mayor.

• In 2016, she was re-elected as mayor of Davao City. In an interview, she revealed that she did not want to run for the mayor post this time too, as she wanted to continue her legal practice; however, her father convinced her for contesting in the mayor election.

• On 23 February 2018, Sara Duterte launched a new local party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP).

• On 4 July 2018, her party was approved for the 2019 general elections. In the elections, HNP also stood as an electoral alliance, fielding candidates from different parties for the senatorial election. 9 out of 13 senatorial candidates supported by her party won in the election.

• In May 2019, she was elected for the mayor post for her third term and her another brother, Sebastian Duterte was elected as vice mayor.

• During the COVID-19 pandemic, she created a city task force in Davao City to handle pandemic and other emergencies. Additionally, to help resident affected by lockdown restrictions, her administration distributed food packs to communities and medical workers using most of the city’s Bayanihan funds.

• After her 2019 elections, many political analysts saw her as successor of her father for the 2022 Philippines presidency. However, in an interview, she said that she would not run the national position as her father wanted to run for vice presidency.

• Sara then filed for running for re-election as mayor of Davao City; however, she later withdrew her candidacy. Her brother Sebastian, ran in her place for the mayor post.

• On 11 November 2021, Sara resigned from Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) party and joined Lakas–CMD in Silang, Cavite. Six days later, on 17 November 2021, she became chairperson of Lakas–CMD.

• On 13 November 2021, Duterte filed her candidacy for the Vice President of the Philippines under Lakas–CMD.

• In May 2022, she won the election with more than 32 million votes. She defeated her closed rival Senator Francis Pangilinan by about 22 million votes.

• After her win, she became the first vice president from Davao City and the youngest person to became the vice president of Philippines at the age of 44.
  

  Sara Duterte, when she took oath as Vice President of Philippines in 2022

• Additionally, she became the third woman to serve as the vice president of Philippines after Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Leni Robredo.

• Along with her vice president post Duterte also served as the secretary of education and as vice chairperson of an anti-insurgency task force (NTF-ELCAC). However, on 19 June 2024, she resigned from both positions.
  

  Sara Duterte with Philippines President Bongbong Marcos

• Due to the political rifts with Philippines president, Bongbong Marcos, she resigned from Lakas–Christian Muslim Democrats party on 19 May 2023.

• On December 2, 2024, three impeachment complaints were filed in the House of Representatives against Sara for 24 offenses including failure to account for her spending of confidential funds, misuse of confidential funds, and for betrayal of public trust.

• On February 5, 2025, the House of Representatives impeached Sara, after concerns were raised regarding her use of confidential funds and her assassination threat against President Marcos, his wife Liza, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

• After her impeachment she became the first sitting vice president, as well as the fifth official in Philippines history, to be impeached.

• On 11 March 2025, Sara’s father former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested in Manila on the basis of an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant over crimes against humanity charges. Sara criticised his arrest and called it an insult to Phillippines sovereignty.

• On 2 February 2026, two new impeachment complaints were filed against Sara Duterte in the House of Representatives on charges of betrayal of public trust in the usage of confidential funds.

• On 18 February 2026, Sara announced her candidacy for the president of the Philippines in the 2028 election.

• On 12 May 2026, Sara came into news worldwide, after the House of Representatives of Philippines voted majority to impeach Sara Duterte and being sent to the Senate for trial. After her impreachment, she became the first Philippines government official to be impeached twice.