Duterte: I want to die in my country

Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — Arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte wants the proceedings in his case for crimes against humanity to move swiftly, saying he could die anytime but would rather take his last breath on Philippine soil.

This was according to Vice President Sara Duterte, who granted a media interview on Friday in The Hague, Netherlands.

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“He’s in good spirits today,” she said, referring to her father, whom she was able to speak to via a phone call.

“And then, well, he repeatedly said, and I told him, ‘I understand where you are coming from,’ and I totally agree with the urgency he wants to go back to the Philippines,” the vice president said.

“Sabi niya (he said), ‘I am an old man, I can die anytime but I want to die in my country,” she added.

Vice President Duterte said she assured her father that his legal team is working every day on his case.

READ: Sara Duterte ‘excited to go home’

The former president also said during the phone call: “Everything that I did was for my country. Whether that statement is acceptable or not, but that is my statement. Everything I did, I did for my country.”

The vice president assured the public that her father is receiving proper medical care inside the detention facility of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The former president was arrested in Manila on March 11. He was flown the same day to the The Hague, Netherlnads to face trial for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during his administration’s drug war.

The elder Duterte made his first appearance at his pretrial hearing last March 14, three days after his arrest in Manila.

He was unable to attend physically and only participated in the pretrial via video link.

His administration’s drug war claimed at least 6,000 lives, according to official government data.

However, human rights watchdogs estimated the death toll from the drug war to be between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019.