FIRST THING LAST | FIRST: High Profile Criminal Lawyer N. Kauffman hired by Sara | To make it appear DU30s are poor | THEN LASTLY: Sara applying for legal aid? Pa Awa/Drama lang? Fake Facts?

 ‘What we should do as a country is to move on’

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte has acknowledged the possibility that her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, may no longer be able to return to the country as she accused the Marcos administration of being determined to keep him in The Hague.

Asked about how she felt regarding Sen. Ronald dela Rosa’s disappointment over National Security Adviser Eduardo Año’s reported role in Duterte’s arrest, she said:

“Sa totoo lang wala talaga akong nararamdaman. Hindi ako galit, hindi ako disappointed. Nothing at all. Kasi pointless naman na… magharbor ako ng feelings about what happened. Hindi na siya maibabalik. Hindi na mababalik si Pangulong Duterte sa Pilipinas. So what we should do as a country is move on from what happened. What will we do as our ways forward as a country and as a people from what happened?” Duterte said in Filipino during a press conference yesterday streamed on the OVP’s Facebook account.

Duterte said there was no point in harboring anger against the Marcos administration as they refuse to listen to reason.

“Magalit man tayo walang pupuntahan yung galit natin dahil hindi naman sila yan papanagutin ng pamahalaan. Nakikita nyo yung mga sagot nila wala na sa ayos, wala na sa rason, wala na sa common sense, wala na sa batas. Pero walang magagawa laban sa kanila. So we should move forward from what happened, the country should decide, the people should decide saan ba tayo papunta,” she said.

“We have now lost a former president. I pray that we do not lose the country next,” she said.

Meanwhile, Duterte also addressed rumors of a traitor within the group of people who were strategizing with her father in Hong Kong a day before he came home to the Philippines and was subsequently arrested.

“I’m sure that out of the many people in that room, someone leaked whatever was discussed inside. To whom they told it, I do not know,” she said.

The Vice President, however, stressed that whoever was saying there was a traitor among them was the person the “insider” was speaking to.

“Who said there was a traitor? Whoever said it must be the one who was talking to the one inside the room in Hong Kong,” she said.

“I will just clarify that there was division of duties in that meeting. I was moderating that meeting. I asked PRRD for his decision and what he wants to do. He says he wants to go home to the Philippines, he doesn’t want to live abroad, he will not hide,” she said.

However, what the former president did not expect was that he would be taken directly to The Hague instead of a local court.

In a virtual appearance before the Senate on Thursday, the Vice President said her father’s arrest was a case of “extraordinary rendition” and insisted that the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) was not valid because not reviewed by a local court.

Extraordinary rendition is the secret transfer of suspects to other countries, often to face detention or interrogation.

She maintained that the Marcos administration unlawfully arrested her father, saying it was “patently illegal.”

“This was patently an illegal arrest. This constitutes extraordinary rendition. A Filipino citizen, a former president, was taken into custody without a valid warrant issued by a Philippine court, without due process, and without any legal basis under our laws,” she added.

Not staying long at The Hague

The Vice President assured the public that she has no plans to stay at The Hague for a long time, saying she would come home to the Philippines once she assembled the team of lawyers who would defend her father before the ICC.

Duterte made the remark in response to Malacañang’s plea for her to go home and do her job as Vice President.

“I perfectly understand the (sentiments). In fact, I don’t want to stay long here because I have children and work in the Philippines as Vice President. I have a duty to our citizens,” she said in a press conference.

“Let’s not think of him as my father. Let’s think of my stay here as my duty to bring a Filipino citizen back to the country,” she said.

Duterte said she has a return ticket for April but did not state the date of the flight. “I don’t know how long I need to stay here because I have yet to form the legal team of former president Duterte. As VP, I have an obligation to assemble his support group so he will have all the help he needs to leave ICC detention,” she added.

Duterte disclosed she was meeting with lawyers who are flying in to The Hague for interviews to join the legal team of her father.

Duterte said the legal team – headed by veteran ICC trial lawyer Nicholas Kaufman – are exploring “limited options” for the former president to be freed from ICC detention before proceedings for his crimes against humanity case concludes. The next proceeding has been scheduled six months from now.

Fabrication

The Vice President also dismissed the crimes against humanity case her father is facing before the ICC as a “fabrication” by former senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

Duterte questioned why the ICC prosecutor was unable to cite at least 100

names of victims of her father’s war on drugs during the elder Duterte’s

first appearance before the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber last week.

“A total of 43 cases, but where are the thousands of cases the complainants are citing? Not that I’m discounting the 43 who they are saying allegedly died. But crimes against humanity is a serious accusation that they keep on saying where 6,000; 10,000; 40,000 or 50,000 have died,” Duterte said.

“I’ve mentioned earlier how this turned into a case. They don’t have any evidence for murder or crimes against humanity. It baffles me,” she said.

“Maybe that includes the fake victims. Because this is a mere fabrication of senator Trillanes before. And of course, he was able to rally support from the government,” she added.

CIDG not keen on raps vs Medialdea

Despite their tense confrontation when former president Duterte was arrested last week, the head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group said yesterday he is not inclined to file criminal complaints against former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea.

CIDG director Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III handcuffed Medialdea during a standoff at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City. In videos which circulated on social media, Torre told Medialdea he would charge him with obstruction of justice for hindering the operation that brought Duterte to the ICC.

Torre said yesterday he is still contemplating whether he would pursue criminal complaints against Medialdea, who is at The Hague assisting Duterte with his legal defense.

“We are thinking about it when he returns but as of now, I am not really bent on filing that case,” he said over GMA News Unang Balita.

Torre, who is also responsible for the arrest of Kingdom of Jesus Christ founder Apollo Quiboloy, said he has gotten used to the attacks on social media from Duterte’s supporters. He said even Duterte threatened him, warning that his children will file cases against him especially if he already retires from the service. –  Emmanuel Tupas