VP: Release Rody

MANILA, Philippines — Impeached Vice President Sara Duterte has reiterated her call for the interim release of her father, who is detained in The Hague, Netherlands for crimes against humanity.

The Vice President, who faces an impeachment trial, cited three qualifications in the Rome Statute that would allow the release of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

“First is that he is not a flight risk. Second is that he does not, will not, cannot obstruct the ongoing investigation. And third, he cannot continue to commit crimes under the International Criminal Court jurisdiction,” the Vice President said at a rally in The Hague.

In May, the ICC Trial Chamber III ruled that Duterte will stay in detention as the risk of him absconding or evading justice remains high.

The Dutertes and their supporters do not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction in his case stemming from his administration’s bloody drug war. The Vice President has bewailed the slow pace of her father’s trial, which is set for Nov. 30.

“We try to support the process. Since he is already under the ICC jurisdiction, we try to support it,” she admitted.

Claiming that “no one can count” the number of times her father “slipped and hit his head in detention,” she said such incidents are not being reported since “Duterte is the Asian poster boy in answer to attacks that the ICC is only going after the black race.”

ICC a lapdog – VP

For the Vice President, President Marcos and former senator Antonio Trillanes IV are traitors for allowing the arrest and turnover of her father to the ICC in March 2025.

“The ICC is a lapdog of Trillanes and Marcos,” the Vice President said.

She asked Trillanes why he did not attack the “yellow, pink and red” groups, referring to the respective political colors of the Aquinos, Naga Mayor Leni Robredo and Marcos.

“He claimed so many things about the Davao death squad… Do you hear him speak of anti-corruption when it comes to Aquino and Marcos?” she asked.

Questioning the number of witnesses against her father, Sara doubts whether they are all drug war victims and maintained that the drug war is not a crime against humanity.

“Now it is how many? 34? 32 counts of murder. That amounts to, they say, crimes against humanity,” she said. “The government has a policy of zero tolerance for illegal drugs… They created the drug war.”

She added: “Now, the implementation of a program whether it was good or bad is not a crime against humanity. It may be good or bad governance… (but) that is not a crime against the Filipino population.”

Duterte is facing three counts of crimes against humanity of murder covering 49 incidents involving 76 killings and two attempted murders.

Of around 70 witnesses, up to 30 are expected to testify in court.

Prosecutors have disclosed 5,177 pieces of evidence to the defense as of May, with 13,284 under review for possible disclosure.

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