Vice President Sara Duterte has strongly condemned the supposed “welfare check” conducted by officials of the Philippine Embassy in The Hague on her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, warning that the intrusion placed his life and safety in imminent danger.
She alleged that the visit – carried out under false pretenses – was ordered by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and accused both the International Criminal Court and the Philippine government of involvement.
In a statement on Wednesday, Sept. 24, the Vice President did not mince words, calling the embassy’s action a grave intrusion and denouncing the report submitted to President Marcos.
“I have received disturbing information from Malacañang that a report about Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte was submitted to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. by the Philippine Embassy in The Hague,” she said, adding that officials entered the detention unit on the pretext of a welfare check and interviewed the elder Duterte.
“These are nothing but orders of President Marcos disguised as consular functions, and we strongly object to such visits. FPRRD does not need you, our family will take care of him,” she stressed.
The Vice President said that since her father’s detention in March, at least one or two family members have visited him daily “to guarantee his well-being and humane treatment.”
She further warned, “The permission given by the ICC in allowing the agents of the very government that abducted FPRRD to intrude upon him, without seeking permission from family members who are in the Hague, places his life and safety in imminent danger.”
“If such sham ‘welfare checks’ are allowed to continue, then the ICC and the Philippine Government must be prepared to answer, fully and directly, for any harm that comes to former president Duterte —including, should the worst happen, his death in custody as a direct result of these intrusions, the false pretense of conducting a ‘welfare check’,” the official said.
Duterte pointed out that President Marcos should instead focus on checking on “detained, distressed, abandoned or neglected” overseas Filipinos around the world “who have not had the benefit of a single welfare check from the Philippine government.” (Raymund Antonio)
