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Bella Cariaso - The Philippine Star
December 3, 2025 | 12:00am
Photo taken on March 14 shows Vice President Sara Duterte arriving to address people gathered outside the ICC in The Hague.
AFP / File
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte is now in The Hague, Netherlands, to visit her father, detained former president Rodrigo Duterte, days after appeals judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) rejected the appeal on his request for interim release.
The Vice President said she was able to talk to the former president, but did not mention the ICC ruling.
“I didn’t bring it up because I didn’t want to be the one (to tell him the news),” Duterte said in a chance interview.
The ICC Appeals Chamber issued in open court its unanimous decision denying the appeal lodged by the elder Duterte’s lawyers against the earlier decision of pre-trial judges that denied his request for conditional release to another country.
“We had a good talk about politics. We had a little talk about family but mostly about politics and what’s going on,” the Vice President added.
According to the Vice President, she also informed her father that his supporters continue to wait outside the detention cell of the ICC.
“I mentioned earlier that there are Filipinos out here now. He said he told you several times that he received all your messages, your prayers and (he said) ‘don’t sacrifice your health, staying out in the cold,’ ” the Vice President added.
The Office of the Vice President did not give details on when she left the country or until when she will stay in The Hague.
She last visited her father on July 6, 2025 when she stayed for more than two weeks.
The former president’s lead defense counsel plans to “reintroduce” a request for interim release once the result of his medical evaluation becomes available.
Defense counsel Nicholas Kaufman said “the ICC Appeals Chamber has never affirmed the interim release of a person charged with crimes against humanity.”
Duterte is expected to spend the holidays in detention.
