Mayor Baste says government ‘kidnapped’ ex-President Duterte
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 28 March) – City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte echoed claims made by lawyers and allies of his father, Rodrigo Duterte, that the decision of the Philippine government to send the former President to The Hague-based International Criminal Court was an act of “kidnapping”.
The former leader was arrested in Manila on March 11 upon his arrival from Hong Kong and flown to The Hague based on an arrest warrant issued by the ICC for alleged crimes against humanity of murder linked to his bloody “war on drugs.”
“Now you kidnapped an 80-year-old, retired, former president, what’s that? As if he did nothing good for our country that you’d treat him that way,” the younger Duterte said in a 26-minute speech in Cebuano during the birthday celebration rally for his father on C.M. Recto Avenue here, Friday evening.
The former President turned 80 on Friday inside the ICC detention center in The Hague.
Comparing the event to chess, the mayor said the national government has been checkmated by questions regarding the controversial 2025 General Appropriations Act that it resorted to “kidnapping” his father. He said the national government did not play fair.
“Now that they’re losing, they scrambled the pieces, the (expletive) kidnapped, and they scrambled and turned the board upside down so none of us here will win,” Duterte said.
Duterte, a staunch critic of president Ferdinand Marcos Jr., claimed that the Marcoses are afraid they would lose to his sister, Vice President Sara Duterte in the 2028 presidential election.
He said Marcos would not have won in 2022 if not for the support of Dabawenyos.
He and his supporters believe Marcos will try to extend his term beyond 2028.
The 1987 Constitution only allows one six-year term for the President and Vice President.
Palace spokesperson Claire Castro said during her press briefing Thursday that they only followed Interpol’s request and there was nothing personal about the former President’s arrest.
“We are simply following what the law states and fulfilling our obligations and commitments to Interpol,” Castro said.
Under the Rome Statute, the ICC may request the assistance of Interpol in effecting the arrest of individuals who are facing charges before the court. The Philippines is a member of Interpol.
‘Fight back’
“Musukol ta sa ilaha (We will fight them back!)!” Rodrigo “Rigo” Duterte, grandson and namesake of the former President, told around 60,000 supporters (police estimate) who attended the event.
“I have but a small request for you that hopefully, we won’t stop until Rodrigo Roa Duterte is brought home and we’ll fight them back,” he said.
“I just want my grandfather to be home. He would be happy to go inside his mosquito net,” Rigo, son of Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte who is running for first district councilor, said.
Pulong’s other son Omar in his short speech said he just wanted Dabawenyos to pray for his grandfather’s release.
The patriarch Duterte held the mayoralty for 22 years and four months, a seven terms in total.
He was mayor of Davao City from 1988 to 1998, 2001 to 2010, 2013 to 2016 and President from 2016 to 2022. In 1986, he was appointed OIC vice mayor vice his mother, Soledad, who suggested her son in her stead. Term-limited for the mayoralty in 1998, he ran for and was elected first district representative to Congress, and term-limited for mayor in 2010, he ran for and was elected vice mayor while his daughter Sara was mayor.
He is running for mayor against Karlo Nograles in the May 12 elections with son Sebastian as his running mate. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
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