DAVAO City Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte will go on a personal and unofficial trip around the world even as his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, is detained at The Hague while awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.
The House of Representatives, now in recess, approved the younger Duterte’s request for travel clearance to 17 countries, including the Netherlands and Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China where his father allegedly sought asylum before his arrest at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport upon his arrival in the Philippines last March 11.
Duterte has sought travel authority from March 20 to May 10 (51 days) to visit Malaysia, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, the US, Australia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, and Singapore.
“As requested, travel clearance is hereby granted to the Honorable Paolo Z. Duterte, representative, 1st District, Davao City, in connection with his personal trip,” read the travel clearance signed by House Secretary General Reginald Velasco.
The Davao City solon initially requested only that the Office of the Speaker grant him travel authority to go to the Netherlands and Japan from March 12 to 15 but changed his plans.
Rep. Duterte made it clear in his initial request that he was making a personal trip and “the expenditure incurred from this trip are from my personal funds alone.”
