VICE President Sara Duterte and her older brother, Davao City Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte, left the country yesterday morning to follow their father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, to the Netherlands where he will be tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.
The Office of the Vice President (OVP) said the vice president departed from Manila at 7:40 a.m. via Emirates flight No. EK 337 bound for Amsterdam.
“Further details regarding the Vice President’s trip will be provided as necessary,” the OVP said.
The vice president on Tuesday night said she has to discuss their camp’s plan of action with her father’s legal team.
Rep. Duterte departed the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 on board a Cathay Pacific flight shortly before 6 a.m. after requesting for a travel authority from Speaker Martin Romualdez on Tuesday night.
House Secretary General Reginald Velasco confirmed that the House leadership issued the travel authority allowing Rep. Duterte to go the Netherlands and Japan from March 12 to 15.
Velasco said there was no problem even if the travel authority was granted after the lawmaker’s departure since the approval is only a ministerial duty on the part of the House leadership.
“It’s a travel clearance. That means no government expense. That is his personal funds,” he added.
Rep. Duterte made it clear in his request that he was making a personal trip and “the expenditure incurred from this trip are from my personal funds alone.”
The 79-year-old former president left the country on Tuesday night on board a chartered flight to Rotterdam The Hague Airport. The flight stopped at the Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai to refuel.
The former president was arrested on Tuesday morning upon his arrival from Hong Kong based on a warrant issued by the ICC.
From the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the elder Duterte was brought to the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City where he stayed until the evening before he was made to board the waiting jet.
A staff member of Rep. Zaldy Co (PL, Ako Bicol) denied reports that that the plane used to bring the former president to The Netherlands is owned by the lawmaker.
‘STATE KIDNAPPING’
The vice president on Tuesday night accused the government of committing “state kidnapping.”
“Sinasabi ko sa inyong lahat Pilipino, kayo ‘wag kayong pumayag na ang isang Pinoy ibigay sa sa mga dayuhan lalo na pag labas na sa batas ‘yun (I’m telling you all Filipinos, don’t let a Filipino be taken away by foreigners, especially if it has no legal basis). This is actually some sort of state kidnapping. Parang ganyan na nangyayari (This seems to be what’s happening),” she told reporters outside the Villamor Airbase after she was denied entry.
She also claimed the Marcos administration handed her father over to the ICC allegedly it has “weak” senatorial candidates for this year’s mid-term elections, which, she said, will be dominated by the senatorial candidates of her father’s party, the PDP-Laban.
“And all because mukhang matatalo sila sa midterm elections dahil ang lakas ng vote straight sa ating candidate sa PDP-Laban (And all because it looks like they will lose the mid-term election because voting straight for our PDP-Laban candidates is strong),” she said.
She did not mention, however, that only two senatorial candidates from the PDP-Laban – Senators Christopher “Bong” Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa – have been rating in surveys while eight to nine candidates of the administration’s “Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas” slate have been making the Top 12.
The vice president insisted that there is no legal basis for the government to endorse or turn over her father to the ICC, an act which, she earlier denounced as “oppression and persecution.”
She also called her father’s arrest “an affront to our sovereignty and an insult to every Filipino who believes in our nation’s independence.”
Yesterday, the vice president posted a red ribbon as her Facebook profile and cover photos as she called for the return of her father.
She posted the red ribbon with the words “Bring PRRD Home,” which was also posted by supporters on social media.
La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V said the vice president’s kidnapping claim was ridiculous as he reminded her that it was the former president who gave up the country’s sovereignty to a foreign power, China.
Ortega said her statement should have been made in reaction to China’s incursions in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
“Siguro, ‘yung statement magandang i-copy paste tapos ang ilagay nila na issue tungkol dun sa WPS. Perfect po ‘yung sagot na ‘yan pag na-copy paste po tungkol sa WPS (Perhaps it’s better to copy paste that statement to the WPS issue. Copy pasting that answer to the WPS issue would be perfect),” he said.
LIVESTREAMED KIDNAPPING?
Administration lawmakers found the vice president’s allegations amusing, pointing out that the supposed state kidnapping of the former chief executive was even livestreamed on social media.
“Ngayon lang ako (nakakita na nagkaroon ng kidnapping na may blow-by-blow account. Online streaming pa, di ba? (It’s my first time to see a kidnapping happening with a blow-by-blow account. It was also livestreamed, right?),” Rep. Jude Acidre (PL, Tingog) told a press conference.
Acidre said the Dutertes should be thankful because due process was observed in his arrest, which did not happen in the cases of the victims of the bloody drug campaign.
““Di naman nila maharap ‘yung mga victims direkta. Mabuti nga ngayon may livestream pa sila. Yung mga napatay dati, katok lang patay na kagad (They can’t even face the victims directly. They should be thankful, there’s livestreaming now. Those who were killed before, they just heard a knock their doors and they were killed just like that),” he said.
Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon (PL, Ako Bicol), who is also a lawyer like Acidre, said the ICC’s jurisdiction remains valid despite the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute.
“Well on that aspect, again we have to remember that the effectivity of the withdrawal of the Philippine government under the Rome Statute took effect last March of 2019. But the case was filed prior to its withdrawal. In other words, the International Criminal Court has already acquired jurisdiction over it,” Bongalon said.
He pointed out that the ICC’s warrant was issued in coordination with the Interpol, and the Philippine government had a legal duty to enforce it, while Acidre added that the Supreme Court has already ruled that the country remains bound by ICC obligations for cases initiated before the withdrawal.
“If I may add, I think the restriction of the ICC despite our withdrawal from the Rome Statute has been affirmed already by the Supreme Court, especially in the ruling in Pangilinan v. Cayetano,” he said.
