VP Sara: This is a blatant affront to our sovereignty

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte yesterday denounced the arrest of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who will be tried before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.

In a statement, Duterte said the Marcos administration “betrayed” her father as a citizen of the Philippines by allowing the ICC to take him under its custody.

“Today, our own government has surrendered a Filipino citizen – even a former president at that – to foreign powers. This is a blatant affront to our sovereignty and an insult to every Filipino who believes in our nation’s independence,” the Vice President said.

“This act shows the world that this government is willing to abandon its own citizen and betray the very essence of our sovereignty and national dignity,” she added.

Duterte also decried how her father was “denied his fundamental rights” when he was held at Villamor Air Base.

“Since he was taken this morning, he has not been brought before any competent judicial authority to assert his rights and to allow him to avail of reliefs provided by law,” she said.

“As I write this, he is being forcibly taken to The Hague tonight.

This is not justice – this is oppression and persecution… God save the Philippines,” she added.

The impeached Vice President was with her father in Hong Kong over the weekend for a public engagement with overseas Filipino workers there.

She and her children arrived at the NAIA at 3:21 p.m. yesterday on Philippine Airlines flight PR 319. She wore a black hooded jacket and a mask that nearly covered her face as she went to the dignitaries’ lounge and then to the ramp. — Diana Lhyd Suelto