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Bella Cariaso - The Philippine Star
June 4, 2025 | 12:00am
Senator Imee Marcos leads the Senate hearing into the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte on March 20, 2025.
STAR / Jesse Bustos
MANILA, Philippines — Incoming Davao City Vice Mayor Sebastian Duterte has lukewarm feelings about Sen. Imee Marcos, particularly about her statement that she can bring his father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, home.
“I don’t like the Marcoses anymore. Imee, I can be casual with her. I can treat her as a friend, but let us not talk about politics as we are not together on that,” Sebastian said in a chance interview after visiting his father in The Hague.
Marcos, who was also in The Hague during the birthday weekend celebration of Vice President Sara Duterte, was denied entry into Scheveningen Prison because she is neither a relative nor a lawyer of the detained ex-leader.
“She already returned (to the Philippines), so it is not true (that she will bring back former president Duterte),” Sebastian said.
“Whatever it is, if Madam Imee went here, that’s enough (that) she is supporting. Politics is different,” he added.
According to Sebastian, the former president had lost weight when he visited him.
“He became thinner so I am affected,” he said.
The former president is currently detained at the ICC for charges of crimes against humanity in connection with his war on drugs.
“I believe that there is no reason for my father to be charged. Sooner or later he will go out. There is no reason to keep him there,” Sebastian said.
He added that no final decision has been made on how the former president can take his oath as elected mayor of Davao City.
“We will work on it,” Sebastian added.
Nothing to fear
Even if he was the one who arrested former president Rodrigo Duterte, new Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III assured political opponents of the Marcos administration they have nothing to fear now that he is the head of the country’s police force.
He said Marcos’ marching order to him is for the PNP to serve the public to the best of its abilities.
“We are going to do that. Now, if people have something to fear, they should fear breaking the law,” Torre said at a news briefing on Monday.
Torre said Marcos’ political opponents are free to criticize the President’s policies for as long as their actions are done within the ambit of the law.
“Aside from that, in the Bagong Pilipinas era, the police wants you to be safe. What is scary about that, right?” he said.
Torre incurred the ire of Duterte supporters after the former president was arrested last March and flown to The Hague in the Netherlands to face trial for crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court.
Torre said he has no problem with his bashers on social media platforms, adding he accepts their criticisms for as long as they do not resort to illegal acts.
“We have to do everything within the bounds of decency,” Torre said.
Among Torre’s constant critics is former patrolman Francis Steve Fontillas, who has made a habit of bashing the then-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group head on Facebook.
Fontillas was kicked out of the police force by the National Police Commission for his tirades and is facing criminal cases of inciting to sedition.
Torre held his first command conference yesterday wherein he discussed the implementation of his three-minute response program with regional directors. — Emmanuel Tupas
