Marinduque lone district Rep. Lord Allan Velasco (left), former president Rodrigo Duterte (Facebook)

Former House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco has expressed his support for embattled former president Rodrigo Duterte by echoing the fighting words of the Vice President.

"I AM A FILIPINO 🇵🇭," Velasco wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday, March 11, the same day that the former president was arrested by International Police (Interpol) members in Manila and then flown to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands.

Velasco's post came with a photo of the 79-year-old ex-leader, with the text "I am not a Filipino for nothing."

The sentence was directly lifted from Vice President Sara Duterte's Facebook post Tuesday, wherein she said: "Kung Pilipino ka hindi ka kailanman susunod sa mga dayuhan sa loob ng sarili mong bayan (If you're a Filipino then you would never kowtow to foreigners within your own country). We are not Filipinos for nothing."

(Marinduque lone district Rep. Lord Allan Velasco's Facebook)

Velasco is the multi-term congressman of Marinduque's lone district. He served as Speaker during the previous 18th Congress.

Velasco is known to be close friends with Vice President Duterte, the eldest daughter of the ex-president.

The elder Duterte is facing a charge of crimes against humanity before the United Nations (UN)-backed court.