VICE President Sara Duterte on Sunday reiterated her call for the release of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, currently detained at The Hague awaiting trial for alleged crimes against humanity.
Duterte accused the International Criminal Court (ICC) of meddling and dismissed witnesses against her father — Edgar Matobato and Arturo Lascañas — for having mental problems.
In her speech at the “Free Duterte Now” event at The Hague held on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), Duterte described the main accuser of her father, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, as a person who has “loose bolts” for Matobato and Lascañas, who she said is a “liar.” Both Matobato and Lascañas were self-confessed members of the Davao Death Squad who had allegedly carried out several vigilante-style killings in Davao City during the term of Rodrigo Duterte as mayor.
“And how can I say that Lascañas is also a liar? When they were investigating and Lascañas spoke, he never mentioned my name as being part of the DDS, but in 2022, when I won as Vice President, he said that Inday Sara Duterte is now part of the DDS and she is much more worse than former president Rodrigo Duterte,” Duterte said in Filipino. She continued to push for the release of her father and urged the ICC not to intervene in Philippine affairs.
“The ICC is meddling in our country’s affairs. They also meddle in our governance, because they have an agenda, and they need to justify the support that other countries are giving to them and apply the global order for everyone. They intervene in how the Filipinos govern the Philippines,” Duterte said.
The vice president also described her former running mate, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., as an “addict” who colluded with the ICC.
She said that even if they kick out Marcos, they cannot bring Duterte back to the Philippines.
“Even if we kick out the drug-addled president, we cannot bring back former president Rodrigo Duterte, so we only have two ways: We need to dismiss the case of president Duterte and bring him back to the Philippines,” Duterte said.
She also questioned why the government is spending for “fake witnesses” to be brought to The Hague.
Duterte said her father is thinner.
“He is not weak as he eats regularly. He is thin not because of sickness but because he just eats little and he controls his weight due to his diabetes,” she said.
She thanked their supporters for their continued support for the former leader and urged them not to stop calling for his release from detention.
