Vice President Sara Duterte said she is apprehensive about the possible rejection of the International Criminal Court (ICC)-filed petition for the interim release of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, particularly with the increasing clamour surrounding court processes.
VP Duterte said to reporters on Wednesday that she continues to be worried over the recent motion filed by ICC prosecutors in opposition to the temporary release of their father. “As a daughter, I am concerned that he will not be granted interim release. He is 80 years old, he is not in good health, he’s not been eating well and he needs support from familiar people and he needs the care of his family and loved ones,” Duterte said.
Earlier, the prosecution had urged the ICC to dismiss the appeal on the defence’s petition for interim release. It cited, among others, the need to compel Duterte’s attendance during trial. Prosecutors underscored the former president’s public utterances dismissing the legitimacy of the ICC. It also noted a petition he had filed before the Philippine Supreme Court to restrain his government from cooperating with the tribunal.
Adding her voice to the discourse was the Vice President, who is also a lawyer, though she brought in other serious questions around interim provisions for release within the ICC system.
Meanwhile, VP Duterte hasn’t yet studied the entire text of the prosecution’s filing, but Duterte persisted in hoping that the court would consider humanitarian grounds as well as the legal ones.
Rodrigo Duterte is now facing charges of crimes against humanity regarding his controversial drug war mounted at the onset of his presidency. For his part, however, the ex-president is adamant in denying the jurisdictional authority of the ICC over the Philippines, which officially withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2019.
