MANILA: Vice President Sara Duterte on Saturday (Sept 27) reiterated her call urging the International Criminal Court (ICC) to release her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, on “humanitarian considerations,” emphasising that his continued detention amid “troubling conditions” was “inhumane.”
Sara, in a statement, noted that her family received “credible information” from hospital sources that the former president “had to be subjected to laboratory tests after being found unconscious on the floor of his room.”
“The family was not informed of the ‘accident’ and no explanation was given. These alarming developments raise grave concerns about the capacity of the ICC to guarantee the security and safety of FPRRD,” Sara said, using her father’s initials.
“Even the most basic care for the complaint of an ingrown toenail — easily treatable — cannot be done swiftly. The ICC has persistently ignored the clear need for a 24-hour bedside caregiver,” she added.
“The continued detention of Former President Duterte under such troubling conditions is not only unjust but inhumane. It amounts to punishment without having been convicted of any crime,” the vice president lamented.
According to Sara, there is “no reason” for her father to still be detained at the ICC detention center in The Hague, Netherlands, considering his health and wellness condition.
She said that the former president has never threatened witnesses or complainants in his case and has no intent to assume office as the elected mayor of Davao City, where he won in the 2025 midterm elections.
“There is no other reason for his continued detention except to make him suffer for the complaint of disgraced former Senator,” Sara said, referring to former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.
“The ICC should act now to rectify this gross injustice and ensure that former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte is afforded the proper care and, ultimately, the humanitarian considerations he rightfully deserves,” she said.
‘Welfare check’
In the same statement, Sara denounced again the welfare check conducted by the Philippine government without their family’s consent.
The vice president described the welfare check as “nothing less than an abuse of power against a vulnerable individual.”
“To deprive an elderly man — abducted, denied his rights under Philippine law, and subjected to surveillance disguised as ‘welfare checks’ — of basic dignity and proper care is not justice. This is cruelty,” said the vice president.
On Wednesday, Sara accused President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his administration, and the ICC of endangering Duterte’s life after conducting a welfare check without their family’s consent.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) later released a statement noting that the welfare check was in line with its functions under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and relevant Philippine laws, which aim to protect the welfare of all Filipinos.
“This is a duty of all Philippine Foreign Service Posts and is no different from what the DFA does for other Filipino citizens who are in detention abroad,” the DFA earlier said.
Duterte is currently under the custody of the ICC while facing charges of crimes against humanity in connection with his administration’s bloody war against illegal drugs.
According to government records, Duterte’s drug war killed at least 6,000 people, but human rights groups reported that the death toll reached at least 20,000. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
