Admitting that former president Rodrigo Duterte has lost a lot of weight while in detention at the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague, Netherlands, Vice President Sara Duterte called on Filipinos in Australia for them to appeal to the Australian government for intervention in her father’s case.

The Vice President delivered a speech during the “Free Duterte Now” rally at the Parliament Gardens in Melbourne, Australia, on Sunday, June 22, lamenting about her father’s condition because of he was unable to take care of himself while detained.

“Sinasabi ko sa inyo hindi nyo pa siya nakita na ganito kapayat. Bakit ba pumayat? Dahil unang-una, hirap siya sa kanyang kalagayan. Hindi naman kasi siya marunong ng gawaing pambahay (You haven’t seen him this thin. Why is he losing weight? First, he is having a hard time with his condition. He doesn’t know how to do things),” she explained, adding that her father always had someone to take care of him.

The former president also finds the detention facility unusually cold even with the heating system, and he couldn’t eat much because the facility couldn’t serve him traditional Filipino food.

The Vice President, however, said they are still thankful that the detention unit has been trying to serve “culturally appropriate” food for the former chief executive, although Dutch nationals are not known to serve rice in their meals.

“Pero nagpapasalamat kami kasi ilang araw na dumating si [dating] pangulong Duterte sa Hague ay gumawa sila ng paraan na mabigyan siya ng kanin or rice sa kanyang meals. Kaya nagpapasalamat kami doon (But we are thankful that for a few days when [former] president Duterte arrived in The Hague, they went out of their way to give him rice in his meals. So, we are thankful for that),” she added.

The younger Duterte disclosed that another thing her father misses is having a girlfriend around.

“Kasi magaganda yung mga lawyers niya. Yung isa is a Singaporean Spanish, yung isa is Dutch. At araw-araw yun bumibisita sa kanya sa detention (His lawyers are beautiful. One is Singaporean Spanish, and the other is Dutch. Every day, they visit him in detention),” the official said.

“Yun na nga ang problema ko, Sir, baka ligawan pa. Matinik pa naman yon si PRRD. Pero sinabihan na namin sila, winarningan ko, ‘Ma'am, sabi ko, huwag talaga kayo magpadala sa pambobola niya na’ (That’s my problem, Sir, he might court them. PRRD is very charming. But I already warned them, ‘Ma’am, I told them, don’t fall for his tricks’),” she shared during an exchange with Duterte supporters in Melbourne.

Meanwhile, she also appealed to the thousands of Filipinos who gathered there to “convince” the Australian government “to look into the case of President Duterte and the injustice that he is receiving, that he's been getting from the ICC.”

Australia is a member of the ICC.

The younger Duterte criticized how her father was detained without option for bail, with only an option for interim release that’s still subject to the decision of the ICC court, despite the ICC’s allegedly lack of jurisdiction on trying the former president’s case.

“That is why I'm telling you, you talk to the government of Australia. Come together, sit down, come up with a position paper. Bring his case to the local Australian media. Bring his case to the global community through your social media accounts. That is what we need to do,” she urged.

The elder Duterte’s team of lawyers, led by his lead counsel Nicholas Kaufman, already applied for interim release at the ICC, but there has been no decision yet on the application.

His next hearing before the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I (PTC I) is scheduled on Sept. 23 for the confirmation of his crimes against humanity of murder charges. The case against the former president alleged that, as chief executive, he ordered the systematic killing of thousands of suspected drug addicts.