Vice President Sara Duterte claimed that her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, was being forcibly taken to The Hague in The Netherlands on Tuesday night, March 11, after he was arrested earlier today.
(From left) Vice President Sara Duterte and former president Rodrigo Duterte at the “Pahalipay sa Pasko,” an annual gift-giving activity in their hometown of Davao City. (Photo from FPRRD Supporters via Facebook)
The International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, issued an arrest warrant on Duterte for charges of crimes against humanity. He was arrested on Tuesday morning upon the arrival of his flight from Hong Kong.
“As I write this, he is being forcibly taken to The Hague tonight. This is not justice—this is oppression and persecution,” she wrote in a statement posted on her Facebook page.
“Today, our own government has surrendered a Filipino citizen—even a former President at that —to foreign powers. This is a blatant affront to our sovereignty and an insult to every Filipino who believes in our nation’s independence,” the Vice President added.
She lamented that her father was “being denied his fundamental rights” as “he has not been brought before any competent judicial authority to assert his rights and to allow him to avail of reliefs provided by law” since his arrest this morning.
“This act shows the world that this government is willing to abandon its own citizen and betray the very essence of our sovereignty and national dignity,” she claimed.
The official was in Hong Kong over the weekend. She attended the “Pasasalamat kay PRRD with OFWS (overseas Filipino workers)” event at the Southorn Stadium in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.
There, she admitted to being deceived into believing that President Marcos has the same vision as hers for the Philippines.
The elder Duterte faced congressional inquiries into his bloody war on drugs from October to November last year.
There, he challenged the ICC to hasten their investigation into his drug war as he said he was already becoming too old.
On Tuesday, he was arrested upon landing from Hong Kong at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 and taken to the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City.