Vice President Sara Duterte said on Wednesday, March 19 (Manila time), that her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, remains in the clinic of the International Criminal Court (ICC) detention facility, where he is being held while awaiting trial for crimes against humanity of murder in relation to his administration’s bloody drug war campaign.

Former president Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, in The Hague, Netherlands. (ICC, AFP photos)

The Vice President, who is currently in The Hague to help her father form his legal team, visited the former president at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18. (Netherlands time).

“Okay naman siya. Nagkita kami ni former president Rodrigo Duterte sa loob. Nandoon pa rin siya sa loob ng hospital. So, hindi pa siguro siya all clear base siguro sa assessment ng doctors niya (He’s okay. I saw former president Rodrigo Duterte inside. So, maybe he’s not yet all clear based on his doctors’ assessment),” she said.

She added that the doctors in the facility have already been given copies of her father’s medical records and list of medicines.

Friendly

The Vice President shared that her father, who was arrested in the Philippines last week and sent to The Hague via a chartered flight, has been adjusting well in the detention facility.

“He’s very friendly (with the) people inside, meron na silang banter, eh (they already have a banter),” the official added.

The former president, however, requested that the Vice President and even his other children refrain from visiting him there.

“Sabi niya, ‘Wag na pumunta dito dahil wala daw naman silang gagawin dito, unless gusto nilang sumama doon (sa loob)’ (He said not to go here anymore because they won’t do anything here, unless they want to join him [in the facility]),” the younger Duterte shared.

Her father also repeatedly asked her to go home every time she comes to visit.

“Paulit-ulit kasi siya sa sinasabi niya (He keeps on saying). ‘What are you doing here? Umuwi ka ng Pilipinas (Go back to the Philippines)’,” her father told her.

But the Vice President maintained that she has to assist him in forming a legal team, adding that she is scheduled to interview another lawyer.

‘Very good spirits’

“He is in very good spirits,” the Vice President assured when asked about her father’s well-being.

“Tinanong ko siya kung kamusta ‘yung pagkain. Sabi nya meron namang rice and then tinanong ko siya kung paano ‘yung ulam, sabi nya, ‘half, half’ daw so hindi ko alam kung ano ibig sabihin ng half, half (I asked him about the food. He said there’s rice and I asked him about the viand, he said ‘half, half’ so I don’t know what he meant by half, half),” she said.

In earlier interviews, the Duterte camp shared that the former president is missing his usual tuyo (dried fish), monggo (stir-fried mung beans), and fried banana.

“Ang sinabi nya sa akin, ‘Para akong nasa hotel except hindi ako makalabas’ (What he told me was ‘It felt I was in a hotel except I cannot go out’),” the Vice President added.

The former president’s next hearing is set on Sept. 23, or six months from now.

That will be the confirmation of charges and not the actual trial phase yet on his war on drugs campaign that allegedly killed thousands of Filipinos.