Vice President Sara Duterte branded the International Criminal Court a “lapdog” of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, accusing the tribunal of pursuing what she described as a politically motivated case against her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, while renewing calls for his immediate release from detention in The Hague.
Speaking before pro-Duterte supporters on Wednesday outside the ICC headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands, the vice president alleged that the court’s investigation into her father’s anti-drug campaign was driven by politics and corruption.
“Ang ICC ay tuta ni Trillanes at Marcos, iyon ‘yun. Because the ICC has no other case except for the case of president Rodrigo Duterte,” she said, calling them traitors to a Filipino (apparently referring to her father) and the country.
“And they found Marcos, Trillanes, and money in the Philippine case. Maleta ang pinag-uusapan dito,” the vice president added, without presenting evidence.
The claims contradict publicly available ICC records, which show the tribunal is handling multiple cases involving suspects from several countries. Aside from Duterte, six other individuals are currently in ICC detention facing separate proceedings.
ICC Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye had also earlier rejected allegations that the court’s investigation into the Philippines’ drug war was financed by Filipino politicians.
Release sought
Insisting that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the case because the Philippines has withdrawn from the Rome Statute, the vice president again described her father’s March 11, 2025 arrest as a “kidnapping” and argued that he should be granted interim release.
She said the 81-year-old former president poses neither a flight risk nor a danger to the investigation.
“You saw president Duterte being pushed. Pulled outside of the room, pushed into a plane. Is that a person who is a flight risk?” she said.
Video footage taken during Duterte’s arrest at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, however, does not show him being pushed onto the aircraft that brought him to The Hague.
Instead, authorities spent hours negotiating with the former president and his camp before the flight departed.
During the standoff, law enforcement officers asked Duterte’s longtime partner, Honeylet Avanceña, to accompany him to the Netherlands, but she declined, saying she had no passport despite having just returned from Hong Kong.
Duterte eventually boarded the plane accompanied by his lawyer and former executive secretary, Salvador Medialdea, who later represented him during his initial appearance before the ICC in The Hague.
On May 22, ICC Trial Chamber III denied Duterte’s request for interim release, ruling that his age and medical condition did not outweigh the risk that he could flee or obstruct proceedings, either personally or through his network of supporters and family members.
Evidence challenged
The vice president also questioned the prosecution’s evidence, saying media reports had previously cited around 30,000 drug war deaths but that only a handful of killings now form part of the ICC case.
She argued that some of the victims may have died from ordinary gun violence rather than anti-drug operations.
The ICC, however, confirmed three counts of murder as crimes against humanity against Duterte on April 23.
The charges cover the killings of 19 individuals in Davao City, 14 people allegedly slain by Philippine law enforcement officers, as well as 43 other victims and two survivors.
In confirming the charges, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I said there were substantial grounds to believe the killings formed part of a widespread and systematic attack against civilians carried out over an extended period.
Speed up trial
In a separate interview in The Hague by mostly pro-Duterte vloggers, the vice president said she visited her father on July 27 and 28 and found him suffering from skin problems while in detention.
“We’re trying to ask the health unit of the detention what it is all about. But we appreciate that they did something about it,” she said.
She appealed to the ICC to expedite proceedings, saying the former president could not endure years in detention because of his age.
“We can only request and plead with them to speed up the trial because he is already 81 years old and he cannot afford to stay in detention for three, four, five years more,” she said.
Sara Duterte also disclosed that her father had already given instructions should he die while in ICC custody.
“There is always the possibility that he will pass inside the prison… But of course, as a Filipino, as a daughter, we want him to die in the Philippines,” she said.
The former president’s trial is scheduled to begin on Nov. 30, when he will face three counts of murder as crimes against humanity stemming from alleged killings committed during his tenure as Davao City mayor and later as president.
Hearings are expected to proceed daily until the court’s December recess.
