Vice President Sara Duterte last night said she plans to follow her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, to The Hague, Netherlands, where he will be tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.
The younger Duterte made the statement after her father was made to board a chartered private jet at around 9 p.m. He was accompanied by former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.
“Meron na pong arrangement kasi kailangan kong kausapin ‘yung mga abogado doon kung saan man siya dalhin. Pupunta kami, ako, at pupunta ‘yung mga abogado and doon kami mag-uusap kung ano ‘yung mga gagawin (There’s already an arrangement because we have to talk to the lawyers there to find out where he will be taken. We will go, I’ll go and our lawyers, too and we’ll discuss there what we’re going to do),” she told a radio interview.
The Office of the Vice President (OVP) said the vice president was denied entry at the air base.
The vice president is reportedly a secondary respondent to the ICC case for her role in extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in Davao City when she took over the mayoral duties from her father in 2010.
Earlier, Duterte questioned her father’s arrest, saying that ICC rules provide that he should have been taken to a local court.
“Dapat dinala siya sa korte at ‘yung proseso natin sa loob yun ang masusunod (He should have been taken to a local court and our process will be followed),” she said.
In a separate statement, the vice president continued to assail the Marcos administration for allowing foreigners to arrest her father.
“Kung Pilipino ka hindi ka kailan man susunod sa mga dayuhan sa loob ng sarili mong bayan (If you’re a Filipino, you will never follow the orders of foreigners in your own country). We are not Filipinos for nothing,” she said.
