Honeylet Avanceña
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| Born | Cielito Salvador Avaceña (1970-02-17) February 17, 1970 (age 54)
Davao City, Philippines
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| Alma mater | Davao Doctors' College (BS) |
| Occupation(s) | Businesswoman, former nurse |
| Known for | Spouse of the president of the Philippines; albeit unmarried |
| Partner | Rodrigo Duterte (c. 1996–present) |
| Children | 1 |
Cielito "Honeylet" Salvador Avanceña (born February 17, 1970[1]) is a Filipina businesswoman who is the domestic partnerofRodrigo Duterte, the 16th President of the Philippines (in office 2016–2022).[2] Avanceña and Duterte have been in a relationship since as early as 1996 and have a daughter together. Although she was de facto spouse of the president of the Philippines, she was not designated as First Lady during Duterte's presidency. Nonetheless, she served the duties of First Lady during state banquets.
Avanceña first met Rodrigo Duterte shortly after she participated in the 1988 Mutya ng Dabaw pageant where she finished as first runner-up.[3] Avanceña worked as a nurse in the United States for four years.[4] She returned to Davao shortly after her daughter Veronica was born in 2004.[5]
She joined her partner's presidential campaigninLuzon during the run-up to the 2016 elections.[5]
Prior to Duterte's presidency, Avanceña ran several businesses in Davao: a meat shop, a canteen catering service, and 11 Mister Donut franchises.[5]
Shortly after the inauguration of her partner as president, Avanceña was not named as First Lady. Her stepdaughter Sara was proposed to fulfill the role instead[6] but declined the offer.[7][8]
Avanceña nevertheless fulfilled roles usually conducted by the First Lady, notably during the state visit of Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and the 30th ASEAN Summit in 2017.[9]
Although Duterte has announced that his official First Lady will be his daughter Sara, Honeylet will be keeping house for the President, wherever he decides to stay.
The country's next President still has no first lady after Sara Duterte-Carpio, daughter of presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte, turned down the offer.
During the campaigns, Duterte had said that he was planning to name Inday Sara as his First Lady, but she begged off citing her responsibilities in Davao City.
Avanceña has been taking on so many tasks usually given to first ladies that even Palace photographers and captioners mistakenly called her "First Lady" in a photo release. Within hours, the Palace sent an email correcting the caption, replacing the title with "longtime partner."
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1 Married after their spouse's presidency 2 Died prior to their spouse's presidency 3 Marriage annulled prior to spouse's presidency. 4 Unmarried domestic partner* Benigno Aquino III was unmarried |
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