DAVAO CITY—Mayor Sara Duterte on Thursday said she had lost two of the triplets she was carrying.

“When I went for a checkup last Monday, the doctor said the identical twins didn’t have heartbeats anymore,” the mayor said during the turnover of command ceremony at the Task Force Davao (TFD) headquarters.

Her doctor confirmed the “fetal demise” of two of her triplets, Duterte said, adding that the third fetus was “doing well and fighting for life.”

The mayor had the checkup shortly after her early morning visit to the wake of 27-year-old Kristia Bisnon, who was among the 14 who died in last Friday night’s blast at the Roxas night market. Bisnon was Duterte’s private duty nurse when she was hospitalized in July.

After the wake visit, the mayor attended the flag-raising ceremony at City Hall and had a press conference.

The fetal miscarriage prompted Duterte’s physician to advise her to be more cautious and get more rest, advice that the mayor was taking seriously.

6 more months

“I’m taking it easy on the physical activities and taking precautions,” she said, adding that she had asked the newly installed TFD commander, Col. Erwin Bernard Neri, not to give her unnecessary stress.

“Colonel Neri, kindly give me peace of mind for the next nine months. Although I have six more months (in) my pregnancy, consider this as my first day. Please keep my baby safe,” she said.

Jefrey Tupas, the city information officer, said the mayor “cried all day” on Monday after learning about the fetal demise.

The mayor is the second of President Duterte’s three children with his estranged wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman. She became mayor of this city when her father, who had served three terms as mayor, ran for vice mayor in 2010.

In July, Duterte announced that she was taking a three-week leave of absence. Shortly after she returned to work on Aug. 19, the City Information Office announced that she was pregnant with triplets.

“The human body is made to carry just one baby and I am experiencing threefold all the pregnancy symptoms that a woman goes through,” the mayor had said previously to explain why she could not attend the Kadayawan Festival.

IVF procedure

Duterte is married to lawyer Manases Carpio and has two children, Sharky and Stingray, who, like the triplets, was the result of an in vitro fertilization procedure (IVF).

The mayor, Tupas said, had difficulty getting pregnant so the couple had to resort to IVF.

The news about the mayor losing two of her triplets came while her father was in Laos for the Asean summit. Karlos Manlupig, Inquirer Mindanao