Ex-Pres Duterte well rested, but misses Filipino food – VP Duterte

Vice President Sara Duterte holds a bouquet from her supporters when she faces the Filipino community and the media in The Netherlands on March 14, 2025.

MANILA, Philippines — Former President Rodrigo Duterte is well rested but misses Filipino food, his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte said on Friday (Saturday in Manila).

The vice president was holding a bouquet from her supporters when she faced the media and the Filipino community in The Netherlands.

She made the interview shortly after the pre-trial of her father before the International Criminal Court (ICC). He is facing a case for crimes against humanity he allegedly committed during his administration’s drug war.

READ: Duterte attends ICC pre-trial hearing via video link

Vice President Duterte said she met her father in the facility’s visitors area.

“I said ‘you look well rested’, and he said, ‘well, I don’t do anything here but sleep and watch TV’,” Vice President Duterte said.

“And then I asked him about the food because I know his preference is Filipino food and he said, ‘my only complaint is that I really, really miss Filipino food’,” she added.

Duterte faced the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I composed of Presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc and judges Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou and María del Socorro Flores Liera via video link.

The 79-year-old Duterte, clad in a blue suit and tie, sounded frail when he spoke briefly to confirm his name and date of birth.

READ: ICC sets Duterte confirmation of charges hearing Sept. 23

He was the subject of an arrest warrant from the ICC for crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the Philippines between November 1, 2011 and March 16, 2019. The Philippines was still a party to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC, during this period.

In March 2018, Duterte declared the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute. The withdrawal took effect a year after or in March 2019, so the ICC retained jurisdiction over alleged crimes in the Philippines based on the time when the country was still a party to the Rome Statute.

The war against illegal drugs claimed at least 6,000 lives, according to official government data.

However, human rights watchdogs and the ICC prosecutor estimated the death toll to be between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019. They said several of these cases were extrajudicial killings.