VICE President Sara Duterte yesterday said former president Rodrigo Duterte may need a round-the-clock caregiver to ensure his well-being after learning that their father has fallen on the ground several times while in detention at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.
Duterte said she had talked to their father last Friday, where he confirmed that he had fallen to the ground several times, even before the family received information that the former president was seen lying unconscious inside his detention cell.
“Tinanong ko siya at alam ko tinanong din siya ng lawyer, sabi niya hindi naman ‘yan ang una, maraming beses na ako natumba. It is very alarming, which is why I released a statement that clearly the ICC doesn’t have full control of the safety of the former president. The way I see it, he needs a 24-hour caregiver (I asked him and I know that the lawyer also asked him, and he said ‘that was not the first time, I have fallen on the floor a couple of times’… It is very alarming, which is why I released a statement that clearly the ICC doesn’t have full control of the safety of the former president. The way I see it, he needs a 24-hour caregiver),” she said in a press conference at the Senate after the budget briefing of the Office of the Vice President.
She said the family requested their lawyer to ask the ICC to keep him posted should similar incidents happen to the former president, so he can inform the family, since they were not informed when their father was found unconscious.
“Tulad nung dinala siya sa ospital dahil nakita siyang walang malay sa sahig ng kanyang kuwarto, nakuha namin sa hospital personnel, hind isa detention unit, hind sa ICC… Hindi kami sinabihan na may insidente na ganoon. Nakuha lang naming sa hospital personnel, marami kasing Pinoy sa buong mundo (Like when he was brought to the hospital when they saw him unconscious on the floor of his room, we just got the information from the hospital personnel, not from the detention unit, not from the ICC…We were not informed that there was such an incident. We only got the information from hospital personnel who were Filipinos),” she said.
She said keeping their father in detention still without a definite trial date adds no burden to him, and that was the reason why they are requesting the ICC for his interim release for “humanitarian purposes.”
She said the elder Duterte has no plans of evading trial nor posing a threat to his accusers. She added that her father has no more plans of sitting as mayor of Davao City.
The VP said that a country, which she declined to identify, is willing to accept their father if he is allowed for the interim release, but said it would be best if he is allowed to stay at their home in Davao City.
“Kung ako Davao City, Philippines, kahit na house arrest ‘yan, kahit na gusto ng ICC na ilibing sa ilalim ng bunker ‘yan. Yung hosue arrest walang problema sa amin, gagawin namin ‘yan. I think mas mabuti na ibigay ang interim release because we can encourage him to cooperate sa mangyayari na trial or hearings kung meron man (If it will be in Davao City, Philippines, the better. Even if the ICC orders to place him under house arrest, even if we put him in a bunker. House arrest is not a problem for us and we will do it once ordered. I think it is better if they grant his interim release so we can encourage him to fully cooperate with the trial if there would be one),” she added.
Based on the information they had, she said it was also not the first time that Philippine Embassy officials conducted a welfare check on their father after the defense team filed an indefinite adjournment of the trial.
She said she was not able to ask her father if he allowed the Philippine Embassy officials to conduct the welfare check, as she does not want him to be stressed and distressed further.
She said she does not recall what she and her father talked about when she talked to him.
She said that the family still does not know the cause why their father was found unconscious on the floor, nor do they know which happened first — whether their father was found unconscious or when the embassy officials conducted a welfare check on him.
The VP also said she has no information if former Sen. Antonio Trillanes is indeed in the Hague, adding that she cannot get confirmation from the ICC.
