VP Sara renews call for Rodrigo Duterte's immediate release from ICC detention

Vice President Sara Duterte renewed her call for the immediate release of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, from detention at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Speaking before supporters in The Hague, Netherlands, VP Sara said the continued detention of her father is unjust and is politically motivated.

“He should be released and he should be released immediately.... This is not about justice. This is about politics in the Philippines,” the Vice President said on Wednesday at The Hague.

Duterte argued that the former president does not meet the conditions under the Rome Statute for continued detention.

“They are holding an 81-year-old who cannot make his own bed, who cannot even clean his own room, who has bedsores and who has so many aches and pains because of old age," she noted.

She also questioned the ICC’s assessment that the former president poses a flight risk.

“You saw [former] President Duterte being pushed, pulled outside of the room, pushed into a plane. Is that a person who is a flight risk? He cannot even walk three steps and fall to the ground.”

Marcos, ICC

The Vice President then accused President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. of backing the proceedings before the international tribunal.

“Marcos supporting ICC. ICC supporting Marcos," she claimed.

The Vice President also called President Marcos and former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV “traitors” over the ICC case.

“Yes, they are traitors to a Filipino and to the country... ICC, ay tuta ni Trillanes at ni Marcos. Iyon ’yun,",” she said in a crowd of Duterte supporters.

(The ICC is a puppet of Trillanes and Marcos. That’s what it is.)

GMA News Online has reached out to the Palace and Trillanes for comments, but they have yet to reply as of posting time.

Duterte also again questioned the ICC’s jurisdiction over the case and criticized how her father was brought to The Hague.

“If this is about justice, then why does it allow injustice to happen to people who are respondents of communications — of complaints inside ICC?" she asked.

“There is no justice for the Philippines. There is no justice for Filipinos, and there is no justice for former President Rodrigo Duterte,” she added.

Duterte is facing charges for crimes against humanity over alleged killings during his time as President and Davao City mayor. He has been detained in The Hague since March of last year.

Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro in June said that the ICC is not being used as a political weapon, noting that it was a Filipino citizen who filed the case against the alleged abuses committed by the Duterte administration on its war on drugs almost ten years ago.

"Unang-una alam naman natin ang ICC korte po ito at meron namang kaso. May kaso na kapwa nating Pilipino ang nagsampa laban sa mga diumanong pang-aabuso patungkol sa EJK (extra-judicial killing). So huwag natin kalimutan 'yan. Pilipino rin po ang nagsampa ng kaso," Castro said in an interview.

(First of all, we know that this is the ICC court and there is a case. There is a case that a fellow Filipino filed against the alleged abuses regarding the EJK. So let's not forget that. A Filipino filed the case.)

She added that if a valid warrant of arrest is issued, this is valid as the ICC wants someone to be held accountable.

"So bakit ba lagi natin sinisi ang korte, sinisi natin ang administrasyon. Huwag natin kalimutan na yung kaso nasampa ito 2017 pa. So hindi ito wine-weaponize, kinakailangan lamang po na matugunan din ang hiling ng mga kababayan natin," she said.

(So why do we always blame the court, we blame the administration. Let's not forget that the case was filed in 2017. So this is not weaponized, what is needed is that the request of our countrymen be met.) —VAL, GMA News