Vice President Sara Duterte warned her father former president Rodrigo Duterte could meet the same fate as assassinated democracy icon Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., if he insists in returning home to the Philippines.
Vice President Sara Duterte meets with various overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) groups at Het Malieveld Park in The Hague, Netherlands on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (Photo courtesy of BH via Keith Bacongco/MANILA BULLETIN)
This was what the former president's daughter said in a speech during a meet-and-greet event organized by Duterte supporters at the Het Malieveld Park in The Hague, Netherlands on Sunday, March 23.
She shared that every time she visits, her father would ask her when she’ll be able to bring him home to the Philippines because he wanted to campaign for the coming elections as Davao City mayor.
Ninoy Aquino slay
“At ‘yon ang gusto niya, gusto niyang umuwi. Sinabi ko din sa kanya yon, ‘Pa, sabi ko ‘yung kagustuhan mo na umuwi, iyan din ‘yung katapusan ng buhay mo, magiging Ninoy Aquino Jr. ka (He really wants to come home. I told him, ‘Pa, if you go home, that will be the end of your life. You’ll be like Ninoy Aquino Jr.),” she said while standing on a foldable chair.
Aquino, a former senator and staunch critic of the Marcos Sr. administration, returned to the Philippines in Aug. 1983 after three years of exile in the United States.
However, in a turn of events that will echo in history, Aquino was gunned down upon his arrival at the then Manila International Airport,, an event that was largely credited for sparking the EDSA revolt three years later.
“At sinabi niya sa akin, sabi nya, ‘Kung ganyan ang kapalaran ko, then so be it. Basta lang mauwi ako sa Pilipinas’ (And then he told me, ‘If that is my fate, then so be it. I just want to come home to the Philippines’),” Duterte said.
Some Filipinos from all over Europe then chimed in: “Sama kaming lahat (We will go with him).”
The Vice President admitted that she is worried for her father’s “safety and security”, but the former president, according to her, has kept on insisting, “Ibalik niyo ako sa Pilipinas (Take me back to the Philippines).”
Crowd chant
Filipinos once more alternately chanted, “Bring him home” and “Marcos resign,” before singing the “Happy Birthday” song to the former president, who will be turning 80 years old on March 28.
Filipinos from across Europe gather at Het Malieveld Park in The Hague to express their support for former president Rodrigo Duterte. (Photo courtesy of BH via Keith Bacongco/MANILA BULLETIN)
They also sang “Bayan Ko,” the anthem and rallying cry for the opposition during the 1986 EDSA People Power revolution.
‘Bring Duterte home’
The Vice President asked supporters to continue demanding from the Philippine government to bring her father home.
“Wag natin tigilan ang panawagan sa gobyerno natin sa Pilipinas at sa lahat ng gobyerno na nakikinig at dito sa ICC na ipaalam sa kanila na mali ang ginawa kay [dating] pangulong Rodrigo Duterte (Let us not stop calling out our government in the Philippines and to all governments and here in the ICC to let them know that what they did to [former] president Rodrigo Duterte was wrong),” she said.
“Ituloy lang ‘yung kaso, walang problema, ibalik nyo lang siya (Go on with the cases, no problem, just bring him home),” she added.
She ended her speech by urging their supporters to remember what they were fighting for—the country.
“Wag nyo kalimutan ang laban (Don’t forget the fight), what is our cause. Our cause is for our country. Ang laban na ito ay para sa bayan (This fight is for our country).”
The gathering reportedly brought some 2,000 Filipinos from different parts of Europe to The Hague, where they chanted, “Bring him home” and “I stand with Duterte.”
A large banner with the words “Bring PRRD Home (fist sign)” on a red ribbon hang behind the makeshift stage.
Duterte allies
Aside from the Vice President, Senator Robin Padilla was also seen there. Padilla is the president of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), the political party of the former chief executive.
Former executive secretary Salvador Medialda, in a wheelchair, attends the meet and greet event with OFWs held in The Hague. (SMNI News Photo)
Former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea also arrived at the rally in a wheelchair. It could be recalled that he had accompanied the former president in the plane going to The Hague after the latter's arrest in Manila. However, only after a few days in The Hague, Medialdea had to be rushed to a hospital earlier this week after he fainted at the ICC detention center.
Former presidential spokesman Harry Roque, who resurfaced in The Hague after leaving the Philippines late last year amid a congressional hearing into his links to illegal offshore online gambling, did not attend the rally.
Vice President Duterte has been in The Hague since her father was brought there under an ICC arrest warrant on crimes against humanity of murder in connection with his administration’s bloody war on drugs campaign that killed thousands of mostly impoverished Filipinos.
He faced the Pre-Trial Chamber on March 14 to officially hear the charges against him and to be informed of his rights. His next appearance before the chamber is scheduled on September 23 for the confirmation of charges.
The former chief executive is also in the running as Davao City mayor, a post he held for more than two decades before winning the presidency in 2016.