VP Sara says father subjected to lab tests after he was found unconscious in detention room
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 27 September) — Vice President Sara Duterte on Saturday said her father, former President Rodrigo R. Duterte, was found unconscious on the floor of his detention room in The Hague, the Netherlands, where he is facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC), and had to be “subjected to laboratory tests” after.
In a statement, the Vice President said “credible information” was relayed to the Duterte family by “hospital sources” but she did not say when it happened.
She said none of the family members was informed about what she described as an “accident” and that no explanation was provided by the ICC.
She provided no details on the current health condition of her 80-year old father.
“The continued detention of Former President Duterte under such troubling conditions is not only unjust but inhumane. It amounts to punishment without having been convicted of any crime,” she said.
She expressed alarm over an alleged “surveillance disguised as a welfare check” by the Philippine government through its Embassy in The Hague on the former leader last week, stating that the ICC “has allowed agents of the government that abducted Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to intrude upon him and exploit his frail and compromised health.”
“This is nothing less than an abuse of power against a vulnerable individual,” she added.
The Department of Foreign Affairs, in a statement issued last September 25, stated that some officials from its Embassy visited the detained former leader to conduct a “welfare check” in line with its functions under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and relevant Philippine laws, “to protect the welfare of all Filipinos.”
The agency maintained that the recent visit was part of the duties of all Philippine Foreign Service Posts and was no different from the assistance the DFA provides to other Filipino detainees abroad.
Sara alleged that the ICC has persistently ignored the clear need for a 24-hour bedside caregiver.
“If the ICC is to remain true to its mandate as a court of justice, it cannot turn a blind eye to the health and wellness condition of FPRRD,” she said.
She added that it is cruel to deprive an elderly man “abducted, denied his rights under Philippine law, and subjected to surveillance” of basic dignity and proper care.
She stated that her father is not a flight risk, has never threatened witnesses or complainants, and has no intention of assuming the office of Mayor.
“There is no other reason for his continued detention except to make him suffer for the complaint of a disgraced former Senator,” she said, referring to former Senator Antonio Trillanes.
The legal team of the former President has been pushing for his interim release after six months of detention at the ICC. Duterte was arrested on March 11 upon arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from Hong Kong, was detained at Villamor Airbase, and shipped out of the Philippines on the same day.
“The ICC should act now to rectify this gross injustice and ensure that Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is afforded the proper care and, ultimately, the humanitarian considerations he rightfully deserves,” she said.
Last March 14, the former President made an initial appearance before the ICC. The ICC set the confirmation of charges hearing for September 23 this year, but announced last September 8 that it had postponed the commencement of the confirmation hearing following the request from Duterte’s legal team for an indefinite adjournment of the proceedings, alleging that he is “not fit to stand trial.”
According to the publicly redacted version of the Document Containing the Charges, authored by ICC Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang, the ICC charged the 80-year-old former President with three counts of murder as a crime against humanity, involving at least 76 deaths and two attempted murders.
The charges are linked to the extrajudicial killings in connection with his war on drugs between November 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019, during his tenure as mayor of Davao City and later as President of the Philippines.
The three counts are murder as a crime against humanity involve 19 victims in Davao City during the mayoral period between 2013 and 2016; 14 ‘high-value target’ victims in locations across the Philippines during the presidential period between 2016 and 2018; and 45 victims (43 murders and two attempted murders) in barangay clearance operations across the Philippines also during the presidential period.”
Duterte, Mayor of Davao City from 1988 to 1998, 2001 to 2010, 2013 to 2016 and President of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, was charged as indirect co-perpetrator, ordering and/or inducing; and/or aiding and abetting the commission of the crimes.
During his term as mayor, the ICC said Duterte and law enforcement officials used police and non-police hitmen to establish “Davao Death Squad” or DDS, a vigilante group whose members followed “a similarly hierarchical structure with Duterte at the top, as the Head of the DDS.”
The ICC noted that when he became President, Duterte established a network of perpetrators comprising state actors from the Philippine National Police, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, National Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Corrections, as well as non-police assets and hired gunmen, to replicate the DDS model on a national scale.
Lawyer Krissy Conti, ICC Assistant to Counsel who is presently in The Hague, posted on social media that third persons disclosing the medical condition or situation of a person at the ICC detention facility must be aware of that the Dutch are strict on medical confidentiality and that medical records are available only to healthcare providers who are involved in a patient’s care, and cannot be used for any other purpose than his/her care without explicit consent.”
“Duterte’s coterie of family, friends, and advisers – especially those with no current or direct access to Duterte – should understand that the ICC as an institution is not typically swayed by either propaganda or public clamor,” she said, adding that the former President’s health condition “should be properly and formally transmitted to the court by his legal team” and be closely monitored by the ICC detention facility medical team. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
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