VP Duterte off to Netherlands after father’s arrest

Metro Manila, Philippines - Vice President Sara Duterte is en route to the Netherlands on Wednesday morning, March 12, a day after her father ex-President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested for an International Criminal Court warrant over his controversial drug war policy.

Duterte’s office said the vice president left the Philippines at 7:40 a.m. via Emirates flight no. EK 337 bound for Amsterdam.

In a statement, Malacañang said the Office of the President issued a travel authority for Duterte Tuesday night.

“PCO (Presidential Communications Office) was not immediately updated as the information was initially disclosed only to limited people due to the unusual urgency and the confidentiality of the document,” Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said.

In an interview outside the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City on Tuesday, Duterte said she will follow her father to The Hague where the ICC is located. He was flown to the Netherlands past 11 p.m. and had a stopover in Dubai.

Duterte said their lawyers will fly with her to discuss their next moves.

“Kung pipilitin man ng gobyerno na ipadala si former President Duterte, kung paano natin siya mapapabalik, iyan lang muna ang aasikasuhin natin,” she said.

[Translation: If the government insists on sending former President Duterte, how we can bring him back, that's all we will focus on for now]

The vice president also claimed that she was prevented from entering the Villamor airbase to talk to her father before his flight.

In the same interview, Duterte said she is saddened and ashamed of the government’s move to send his father to the Hague-based tribunal.

“Saan ka ba nakahanap ng bayan na iyong kanyang citizen mismo ibibigay niya sa dayuhan? Nakakahiya bilang Pilipino,” she said.

[Translation: Where can you find a country that would give its own citizens to foreigners? It's embarrassing as a Filipino?]

While the Philippines exited the ICC in March 2019, the Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that cases filed and progressed before the cutoff date were still under the court’ jurisdiction. The cases against Duterte date back to when he was Davao City mayor and the first two years of his presidency.

READ: Explainer: ICC and its authority

Meanwhile, Duterte asked Filipinos not to be distracted by the controversies hounding her family: the former president’s battle with the ICC and the vice president’s impeachment.

“Ang totoong problema ay presyo. Ang mahal ng presyo ng bilihin. Ang kahirapan ng ating mga tao. Ang korapsyon sa ating budget…Tila ba, we are stagnant. Hindi tayo umuurong forward, nandito lang tayo nakatayo at walang nangyayari sa bayan at walang nangyayari sa kahirapan. Iyan ang totoong problema ng bayan, hindi iyong ICC impeachment,” she claimed.

[Translation: The real problem is prices. The cost of goods is high. The poverty of our people. The corruption in our budget... It seems we are stagnant. We are not moving forward; we are just standing still, and nothing is happening in our country, and nothing is improving in poverty. That is the real problem of the nation, not the ICC impeachment]