The vice president has described former President Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest over his deadly drug war as ‘oppression’.
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, the daughter of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, is traveling to the Netherlands to assist her father after he was arrested in Manila on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and flown to The Hague.
Rodrigo Duterte, who served as president from 2016 to 2022, was placed on a plane on Tuesday just hours after his arrest at Manila airport. He faces allegations of “crimes against humanity” related to a drug crackdown that resulted in thousands of deaths during his presidency.
Duterte, 79, could become the first former Asian head of state to stand trial at the ICC.
Sara boarded a morning flight to Amsterdam, her office confirmed in a statement on Wednesday. She plans to help organize her father’s legal team in the Netherlands, according to local news outlet Rappler.
In an earlier statement, Sara described her father’s transfer to The Hague as “oppression and persecution.”
“This is a blatant affront to our sovereignty and an insult to every Filipino who believes in our nation’s independence,” she said.
According to the Rappler report, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. defended his government’s decision to facilitate the former president’s arrest and transfer to the ICC, stating it was “in compliance with our commitments to Interpol” – the international policing agency.
Duterte’s youngest daughter, Veronica Duterte, plans to file a habeas corpus petition with the Philippine Supreme Court to compel the government to return her father, said Salvador Panelo, Duterte’s former chief legal counsel.
Silvestre Bello, a former labor minister and one of the ex-president’s lawyers, stated that a legal team would meet to assess options and seek clarity on where Duterte will be taken and whether they will be granted access to him.
“First, we will determine where exactly the former president will be brought, so we know where to go, as he will need legal assistance,” Bello said.
“We will also discuss all possible legal remedies.”
Sara’s trip to The Hague comes one month after she was impeached by the Philippine lower house of Congress amid a growing rift with Marcos Jr.
The vote followed a petition signed by lawmakers, many of whom are allies of Marcos, to remove her from office.
While exact details have not been disclosed, the impeachment vote came after a series of complaints accusing the vice president of crimes ranging from misuse of public funds to plotting Marcos’s assassination.
Sara has consistently denied any wrongdoing and described the actions against her as a political vendetta.
While the ICC has yet to issue an official statement on the specific charges against her father, the court has been investigating allegations of “crimes against humanity” committed by Duterte since 2018, when he was still in power.
Duterte ran for president in 2016 on a platform centered on fighting crime in the Philippines.
During his campaign and presidency, he repeatedly urged police to “kill” drug suspects or encouraged suspects to fight back to justify their own deadly shootings.
According to police records, more than 7,000 people were killed in official anti-drug operations during his six-year term.
In the hours following Duterte’s arrest, family members and supporters of those killed during his presidency held a candlelit vigil in Quezon City.
Their protest signs called for justice for victims of the ex-president’s so-called war on drugs, anti-terror laws, and martial law in Mindanao.
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