VP says no ill-feelings, admits getting mad ‘pointless’
Vice President Sara Duterte said yesterday it was time for the country to move on, acknowledging the possibility that former President Rodrigo Duterte may not be coming home from his trial for crimes against humanity at The Hague.
The Vice President was responding to a question on how she felt about National Security adviser Eduardo Año turning his back on her father. Ano was armed forces chief and interior and local government secretary during the former President’s time.
“Honestly, I don’t feel anything. I’m not angry, I’m not disappointed. Nothing at all. Because it’s pointless for me to harbor feelings about what happened. He can’t be brought back. President Duterte can’t be brought back to the Philippines,” she said in an online press conference.
“Even if we get angry, our anger will be pointless because the government won’t hold them accountable,” she added.
The Vice President also said from the way Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla answered questions during the Senate hearing on the arrest of the Duterte patriarch, she does not think the government will make moves to bring her father back to the Philippines.
“So we’ll just find another way to bring back home our former President,” she said.
Meanwhile, VP Sara said she was uncertain about the date of her return to the Philippines.
Although she already has a return ticket to the Philippines for April, she is unsure whether she would be on that flight.
This came after Malacañang reminded Duterte of her duty to fulfill her responsibilities as the country’s second-highest official, emphasizing that her role extends beyond her father’s case.
However, Duterte explained that she is not only motivated by familial loyalties, but helping mount a legal defense for the detained ex-president is also part of her vice presidential duties.
“Let’s not think of him as my father. Just think of me as a Vice President who is looking for a way to bring home a Filipino citizen,” she said in Filipino.
“As Vice President, I have an obligation to form his support group here [the Netherlands] so someone will help him with the ICC,” she added.
Meanwhile, the younger Duterte branded the arrest of her father at the behest of the ICC as an act of “extraordinary rendition,” or state-backed kidnapping.
Speaking via video conference during a Senate inquiry conducted by the Committee on Foreign Relations on Thursday, she asserted that the arrest was “patently illegal,” as no valid warrant had been issued by a Philippine court.
“What happened on March 11, 2025, is not just about one man—it is about all of us, it is about the country. If a former president can be taken without due process, what stops them from doing the same to any other Filipino?” Duterte said.
She also raised pressing questions about the role of Philippine authorities in the arrest, challenging the legal basis of the operation.
“Under whose authority did the PNP act? Why did it enforce a foreign warrant without a Philippine court order,” she added.
Citing Article 3, Section 2 of the Philippine Constitution, Duterte emphasized that for an arrest to be lawful, it must be executed pursuant to a warrant issued by a Filipino judge from a Philippine court.
Furthermore, she called out the Armed Forces of the Philippines for their silence on the arrest of her father, who was transported to the Netherlands from Villamor Air Base, the Philippine Air Force headquarters.
“Even more disturbing is the silence of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Why did the AFP stand idly by when a former commander in chief was taken from a military base under questionable circumstances?” she said.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline: “VP Sara: ‘Hindi na mababalik si pangulong Duterte sa Pilipinas’”