VP Duterte has no message to Marcos on father’s arrest

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (L) and Vice President Sara Duterte. | PHOTOS: Official Facebook page of Bongbong Marcos and Lyn Rillon on Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday said she has no message to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. whom she said allowed Filipino citizens to be turned over to foreigners.

“Wala akong message sa kanya,” Duterte said in an ambush interview here at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.

“I don’t think of talking to a person who will allow a citizen to be turned over to foreigners,” she added.

The Vice President went to the air base but was barred from entering to visit her father who was still detained at the time.

Duterte was earlier arrested at the Ninoy Aquino Terminal 3 and was then transferred to the Philippine Air Force headquarters in Villamor.

READ: Plane carrying Rodrigo Duterte leaves PH for The Hague

The former president is the subject of an arrest warrant before the International Criminal Court (ICC) over crimes against humanity.

Duterte was regarded as the chief architect of the bloody drug war waged during his time as the country’s chief executive and as mayor of Davao City.

The antidrug campaign under his presidency claimed at least 6,000 lives, according to official government data.

But human rights watchdogs and the ICC itself estimated the death toll to be much higher—between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019 alone, as they noted that several of these are extrajudicial killings.