Sara claims OVP ‘duty’ to bring home Pinoys detained abroad
Vice President Sara Duterte on Thursday justified her continued stay in the Netherlands in order to stay close to her detained father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, saying it was still part of her official “duty.”
It was in reaction to a Palace statement urging her to come home, attend to the duties of her office, and face her own legal battles.
“I don’t even want to stay here since my children, my family are all there in the Philippines and my job is also there in the Philippines,” Duterte said in an online press briefing.
“But as Vice President, I also have a duty to our fellow Filipinos, a Filipino citizen, who is held against his will in the ICC detention center.”
Travel authority till April
The Vice President, who left for the Netherlands on March 12, a day after her father’s arrest, said her plane ticket sets her return to Manila for April.
She did not specify a date, but the travel authority that she applied for and was granted by Malacañang is up to April 30 and also covers trips to Germany, France and Belgium.
“I don’t know until when I will stay here because, honestly, the legal team of former President Duterte is not fully formed yet [and] as Vice President, it is my obligation to form his (elder Duterte’s) support group here so that someone can help him to be released from ICC detention,” Duterte added.
“Let’s not think that he is my father. Let’s put it in a way that I’m the Vice President looking for solutions on how we can bring back a Filipino citizen to our country,” she said.
The Constitution only states that the Vice President’s primary duty is to succeed the President in case of the latter’s death, permanent removal from office or resignation. It says nothing about the Office of the Vice President (OVP) having an obligation to come to the aid of Filipino citizens detained abroad or secure their release.
