DAVAO CITY - Davao City first district Rep. Paolo Duterte left the country Wednesday morning, March 12, to accompany his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte at The Hague, Netherlands.
REP. Paolo Duterte and former President Duterte.
Also leaving the country on Wednesday morning was Vice President Sara Duterte.
The Office of the Vice President (OVP) confirmed that Vice President Duterte departed Manila at 7:40 a.m. via Emirates flight no. EK 337 bound for Amsterdam.
According to reports, Rep. Duterte left first at around 5:45 a.m. onboard a Cathay Pacific flight from Ninoy Aquino International Airport 3 believed to be bound to The Hague.
Former President Duterte's youngest daughter, Veronica "Kitty" Duterte, expressed disappointment over the turn of events on social media.
She expressed concern for their father and said he left with only one nurse with him.
"Kindly pray for his health everyone," Veronica said in her Facebook page, where she also posted a sweet message for her father, emphasizing that she will forever walk with pride knowing that she is a Duterte.
"I will forever walk with pride knowing that I am your daughter, your blood. I am Duterte. The strength you raised me with will go untamed. I will stand by the promise I made you today. I love you Dada," Veronica said.
Meanwhile, in the official Facebook account of Elvin J. Austria Lacesa, a social entrepreneur, he shared that two International Criminal Court judges argued that the Duterte trial is out of their jurisdiction.
In the jurisdictional decision, the vote was close, three in favor and two against, including the chief judge.
"I posted this to show that even in the ICC, there is division among the judges regarding their jurisdiction over the case of President Duterte post Philippine withdrawal," Lacesa said.
ICC Chief Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut and Judge Gocha Lordkipanidze argued that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the "Philippine Situation," the case regarding the war on drugs pending before ICC, because the Philippines is "no longer a state party" under the Rome Statue.
The chartered aircraft transporting the elder Duterte departed from the Philippines on Tuesday evening, March 11, to The Hague, after he was presented with an arrest warrant issued by the ICC.