VP SARA ACCUSED GOVT. OF ‘STATE KIDNAPPING’
But PBBM insists ‘Govt. just doing its job’
VICE President Sara Duterte accused Malacañang of committing ‘state kidnapping’ with the arrest of her father, former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, last March 11, based on an arrest warrant “for crimes against humanity” issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) related to the ‘War on Drugs’ during his administration.
“It’s some sort of, I don’t know, what you call ‘state kidnapping’,” the Vice President told the media on arrival at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City where her father was brought after being arrested by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) led by its chief, P/MGen. Nicolas Torre, at the nearby NAIA Terminal 3. The warrant was served on Duterte by Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon of the Department of Justice.
The Dutertes were in Hongkong over the weekend to attend a mammoth campaign rally for their senatorial candidates for the midterm polls this May organized by the Filipino community but boarded separate planes back to Manila. The former president arrived in the morning and was met by thousands of policemen to enforce the arrest warrant issued by the ICC.
The former president was then transferred to a chartered flight and immediately whisked away for an over 8-hour flight to The Hague, to face trial before the ICC.
Video footages showed Duterte being accompanied by a nurse, one security aide and his former executive secretary, Salvador Medaldea.
The arrest and deportation of Duterte towards his uncertain fate came some two weeks before he turns 80 this March 28. It was so swift that he was not even allowed to say goodbye to his own family, despite the plea of his daughter, the Vice President, or gather his personal belongings and medicines.
The police also did not allow his lawyers to be present while he was under brief detention at the Villamor Air Base.
As of this writing, the Vice President and her brother, Rep. Paolo Duterte, along with their lawyers, are expected to fly to The Hague to check on his condition and strategize on his legal defense.
‘Honoring international commitment’
Malacañang, for its part, thru Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire Castro, debunked the claim of the Vice President that her father’s arrest is state-sponsored kidnapping.
“What are the elements of kidnapping? To forcibly take, without authority. That’s the simplest explanation. How can it be called a kidnapping when there is a warrant of arrest,” Castro explained to the media.
“It (arrest warrant) was issued by an authority, by the court (ICC).
“When there is such an issuance of any order from the court, we have to comply especially in this case that it was through the Interpol,” she added.
Hours after Duterte was arrested on a warrant that he has not seen, President Marcos Jr. said he agreed for his predecessor to be arrested as part of the country’s commitment with the International Police Organization (Interpol).
“Interpol asked for help, and we obliged because we have commitments to the Interpol which we have to fulfill.
“If we don’t do that, they will not – they will no longer help us with other cases involving Filipino fugitives abroad,” President Marcos claimed.
“This is what the international community expects of us as the leader of a democratic country that is part of the community of nations,” he added.
The following day, President Marcos Jr. doubled down on washing his hands over Duterte’s arrest, saying in a statement released by the Presidential Communications Office (PCO):
“Again, the government is just doing its job. Wala namang (personalan), it’s not because it’s one person or another that we do the things that we do.
“Maybe noong mga nakaraan na mga administrasyon, baka ganoon ang ginagawa. Pero sa akin, hindi naman ganoon. Sumusunod tayo sa batas. We are a member of the community of nations,” he added.
The President also stressed the case against Duterte had evolved since 2017 when he was still a private citizen.
“Civilian pa ako noon, so this is the evolution of his case, and this is where we end up,” he added.
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