VP Sara Duterte calls father’s arrest ‘state kidnapping’

Vice President Sara Duterte –INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday called “state kidnapping” former President Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest.

“It’s some sort of, I don’t know, what you call ‘state kidnapping’,” she said in an ambush interview in Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.

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

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

He is now on his way to The Hague via a chartered plane that took off Tuesday night.

READ: Duterte boards chartered flight to The Hague

The former president is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by 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 from 2016 to 2022 and as mayor of Davao City (2013-2016, 2001-2010, and 1988-1998).

During his term as president, the drug war 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 between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019 alone, as they noted that several of these are due to extrajudicial killings.