Vice President Sara Duterte confirmed that her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, has lost weight but remains in good health, following her visit to him at the International Criminal Court (ICC) detention facility in The Hague, Netherlands — more than a month after her last trip.
Speaking to supporters outside Scheveningen Prison on Monday, July 7, the Vice President shared that the former president looked slimmer than she had seen him in decades.
“Pumayat siya nang sobra. Hindi n’yo pa siya nakita nang ganito kapayat siya. Ganito s’ya kapayat noong binata pa s’ya,” she said, noting that he could not eat well due to lack of Filipino food in detention.
“So, malaki ang pinayat niya. So ito ‘yung braso ko, doble. So doble is kalahati nito. Kalahati na lang nito ang braso niya,” she demonstrated.
The official also said that her father was in a “very good mood today” and was the one who observed that his arm was just half the size as his daughter’s.
“But para sa akin lang, he looks good na payat siya kaysa ‘yung malaki ang tiyan tapos parang unhealthy tingnan at mukhang nakakatakot para sa kaniyang heart,” Duterte shared.
“I like him this way, medyo slim,” she added.
Although the former president lost a lot of weight, the Vice President assured that her father has no health complaints so far and is in fact in the regular detention facility–not in the prison’s hospital unit.
“Tinanong namin siya kung may complaints siya. Wala naman siyang nararamdaman daw. So okay naman siya on that note,” she shared.
Duterte arrived in The Hague on July 5 afternoon. She last visited her father on her birthday last May 31 and spent a week there before returning to the country on June 5.
The Vice President is set to return to the Philippines on July 23.
“Mina-maximize namin ‘yung grant ng detention unit na four times a week pwede bumisita,” she said.
Duterte also said she’s aware that a lot of people are praying for her father’s case to be dismissed based on their jurisdiction challenge or for the interim release application to be granted.
She also recalled his words when asked about her father’s message to Filipinos.
“Sinabi niya na ‘I did what I had to do for my country and I have no regrets sa mga ginawa (for what I did)’,” she shared. (Raymund Antonio)
