Honeylet Avanceña, the common-law wife of former President Rodrigo Duterte, said her partner, now detained in The Hague, Netherlands, did not deserve the treatment that he was put through, saying that the “abuse is too much.” —MALACAÑANG FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Former President Rodrigo Duterte, now detained in The Hague, Netherlands, did not deserve the treatment that he was put through, his common-law wife Honeylet Avanceña said, as she lamented that the “abuse is too much.”
Avanceña tearfully broke her silence after Duterte’s pretrial before the International Criminal Court (ICC), which had cited “reasonable grounds” in issuing an arrest order against him for alleged crimes against humanity he committed during his administration’s war on illegal drugs.
“He doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment,” Avanceña said of her partner in an SMNI interview posted on Sunday, as she echoed previous statements in the Duterte camp that the former president was “kidnapped.”
READ: Duterte’s arrest ‘pure, simple kidnapping,’ Medialdea tells ICC
Duterte, accompanied by Avanceña and their daughter Kitty, was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino Terminal 3 last March 11 when they returned from Hong Kong.
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Duterte was transferred to Villamor Air Base before being flown to The Hague on March 12.
“I don’t know how to help him. The abuse is too much,” Avanceña said.
“Tabang, Pilipino, tabang (Help us, Filipinos, help us),” she said in Bisaya.
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Avanceña also noted that they only brought clothes and medicine “good for three days” when they went to Hong Kong.
Now that Duterte is gone, Avanceña said she could not sleep in their own house.
READ: VP Duterte tells kin in anticipation of search warrant: Secure valuables
She then noted that while “you may find his mouth very foul,” Duterte’s governance style was effective.
“He did not become abusive; he did not steal; he remained humble during his presidency,” she said in Bisaya.
Duterte’s partner also said the former president neither used his gun “not even once” nor even stabbed anybody.
The war against illegal drugs that took place during Duterte’s presidency 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 incidents were extrajudicial killings.