VICE PRESIDENT Sara Duterte has accused officials from the Philippine Embassy in The Hague of a “disturbing” intrusion into her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte’s, detention unit in the Netherlands.
In a statement, she claimed that a report about the former president was submitted to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. after Philippine consular officials allegedly entered the detention unit under the “false pretense of conducting a ‘welfare check'” and interviewed the former president.
Duterte condemned this act as an abuse of consular visit rules and a direct violation of her family’s efforts to ensure her father’s well-being.
She noted that since March, at least one or two family members have visited him daily to guarantee his safety and humane treatment.
The Vice President asserted that allowing agents of the very government that “abducted” the former president to intrude upon him, without seeking permission from family members present in The Hague, places his life in “imminent danger.”
Warning to the ICC and Marcos administration
Vice President Duterte issued a strong warning to both the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Marcos administration.
“If such sham ‘welfare checks’ are allowed to continue, then the ICC and the Philippine Government must be prepared to answer, fully and directly, for any harm that comes to Former President Duterte—including, should the worst happen, his death in custody as a direct result of these intrusions,” she stated.
She further claimed that these actions are “nothing but orders of President Marcos disguised as consular functions” and vehemently objected to such visits.
Vice President Duterte concluded her statement by contrasting the alleged intrusion with the Philippine government’s perceived neglect of distressed Overseas Filipinos worldwide.
She stated that while these distressed Filipinos have not received a single welfare check, the government is focusing its efforts on her father.
“They need you, but you have failed them,” she wrote. “We, Filipinos, deserve better.”
FPRRD’s safety at risk
Also, First Congressional District in Davao City Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte on Wednesday backed Vice President Sara Duterte’s claim that Philippine officials had carried out “sham welfare checks” on former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the ICC detention unit in The Hague.
In a statement, the lawmaker said the alleged actions put the former president’s safety at risk and accused the Marcos administration of persecuting his father.
He warned that detaining or harassing the ex-chief executive would only fuel public outrage and vowed that “the people” would hold the current leadership accountable.
Photo courtesy of the OVP
