FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte will not be able to participate in the family Christmas and New Year gathering this year as he remains in detention at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands.
Vice President Sara Duterte confirmed the news on Tuesday, Oct. 14, while speaking to reporters in Zamboanga City, sharing details of a family plan to ensure her father receives visitors during the holidays despite his imprisonment.
Addressing concerns about the former president spending the holidays alone, Duterte announced that a visiting schedule is already in place and was established independent of the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber’s denial of his interim release bid.
She emphasized that a traditional large gathering would be impossible because not all relatives can travel to The Hague.
“For Christmas and New Year, not all the relatives can go there in The Hague. So, the ones who are scheduled for Christmas and New Year are Veronica—that’s Kitty—and Mira,” she said.
The VP explained that the family had agreed to a rotation of visitors regardless of the ICC’s decision on his release. “Even without the decision on interim release, the family already talked that there should always be someone to visit him there in the detention unit,” she stated.
The former president is currently detained at the ICC facility as he awaits proceedings related to his administration’s war on drugs.
Vice President Sara Duterte said their family had already made an appeal on the ICC’s rejection of the interim release to the former president but she can’t reveal further waiting for the response.
Photo courtesy of the OVP
