Palace rejects Sara Duterte's 'state kidnapping' claim in dad Rodrigo’s arrest | ABS-CBN

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Palace rejects Sara Duterte's 'state kidnapping' claim in dad Rodrigo’s arrest

Palace rejects Sara Duterte's 'state kidnapping' claim in dad Rodrigo’s arrest

Harlene Delgado,

ABS-CBN News

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Updated Mar 12, 2025 04:14 PM PHT

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Vice President Sara Duterte attends the attends the House quad committee hearing on the killings and alleged human rights violations in her father former president Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs on November 13, 2024. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File 

MANILA — Malacanang on Wednesday thumbed down Vice President Sara Duterte’s remark likening the arrest of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, to a “state kidnapping.”

“Unang-una po, paano po magiging kidnapping kung may warrant of arrest? It was issued by an authority, by the court. Kapag ka meron nang issuance ng anumang order from the court, we have to comply,” Palace Press Officer and Undersecretary Claire Castro said.

"Wala po akong nakikitang kidnapping dahil hindi nga po ito pwersahan at lahat po ng elemento na dapat pong gamitin para masabing valid 'yung warrant of arrest at 'yung paghingi ng assistance ng Interpol ay nandidiyan na po. Kumpleto po tayo," she added.

Duterte is bound for The Hague following his arrest on an International Criminal Court warrant tied to his deadly crackdown on drugs. 

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The 79-year-old faces a charge of "the crime against humanity of murder", according to the ICC, for the drug war that rights groups estimate killed tens of thousands of mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs.

Vice President Duterte on Tuesday said that what happened to her father was “state kidnapping”.

"It's actually some sort of, I don't know, what do you call it? State kidnapping? Parang ganyan na yung nangyayari," she told reporters at the Villamor Air Base.

VP Duterte left on a morning flight for Amsterdam on Wednesday morning, her office said without offering further details.

The Palace has no information on whether the younger Duterte secured clearance to travel abroad.

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"Hindi po namin alam kung nakapag-clearance siya, madalas naman po yata siyang umalis nang walang clearance. I'm sorry for that, wala po tayong information on that," Castro said.

She also denied that the Duterte patriarch failed to get medical care after his arrest.

He was accorded with proper treatment "as a Filipino and a former president,” the Palace official said.



"Kumpleto po ang kasamahan po doon. May mga doktor po, may mga nurse, nandoon din po ang kanyang mga abogado. So wala pong katotohanan na hindi po nabigyan siya ng tamang atensyon especially tungkol sa medical needs na kailangan po niya," Castro said.

"Kung ano lang po ang sabi ng doktor na nag-attend sa kanya ay hindi naman po sinasabing kritikal ang kanyang kondisyon, hindi naman po kinakailangan siya po ay dalhin sa ospital," she added.

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Castro said there was “no discussion” yet on rejoining the ICC.

"We will just cross the bridge when we get there," she said.

The Philippines quit the ICC in 2019 on Duterte's instructions, but the tribunal maintained it had jurisdiction over killings before the pullout, as well as killings in the southern city of Davao when Duterte was mayor, years before he became president.

It launched a formal inquiry in September 2021, only to suspend it two months later after Manila said it was re-examining several hundred cases of drug operations that led to deaths at the hands of police, hitmen and vigilantes.

The case resumed in July 2023 after a five-judge panel rejected the Philippines' objection that the court lacked jurisdiction.

— With a report from Agence France Presse 





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