Sara Duterte returns to PH from ‘personal trip’ to Australia

Vice President Sara Duterte is seen in a video posted on her social media page on June 23, 2025. — Screengrab from Inday Sara Duterte/Facebook

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte returned to the Philippines on Tuesday afternoon from her “personal trip” in Australia, where she met and urged her Filipino supporters to bring the arrest of her father, former chief executive Rodrigo Duterte, to the attention of the Australian government.

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) made the announcement in a short statement, saying that she arrived in the country around 1:10 p.m.

“Vice President Sara Z. Duterte returned to the Philippines on Tuesday, 24 June 2025, arriving at Ninoy Aquino International Airport at around 01:10 PM (PST) via Philippine Airlines flight no. PR 210,” the OVP said.

“Her return follows a recent visit to Melbourne, Australia,” it added.

READ: Sara Duterte asks Filipinos in Australia to help defend father at ICC

The younger Duterte attended the “Free Duterte Now” event in Melbourne. In her speech, the vice president claimed that his father is receiving “injustices” from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

She encouraged her Filipino supporters to “come together” and create a position paper regarding her request, as well as to bring her father’s case to the local Australian media and to the global community through their social media accounts.

Aside from this, the Vice President — for the first time — commented on the issue surrounding the West Philippine Sea.

“We already won in the arbitral award. We already have an award from that case that we filed with using the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas. The whole world knows the content of the arbitral awards,” she said.

“The only thing that you need to do is force the recognition and implementation of the award through diplomatic channels, not that you will favor a foreign power and allow the missiles of a foreign power into your country which you know is hated by its enemy. You have nothing to do with the conflict between the two of them,” she added.

Duterte also claimed that the problem in the West Philippine Sea does not “make up” the Philippines’ “entire relation with China.”

Based on reports, the former chief executive’s war on drugs left at least 6,000 people dead; however, human rights groups reported that the number may have reached 20,000.

Last March 11, Duterte was served an arrest warrant by the ICC over alleged crimes against humanity committed during his administration’s brutal drug war.

Duterte is currently in The Hague, Netherlands, and attended his pre-trial hearing at the ICC via video call last March 14. /das