House SecGen allows Pulong Duterte to travel to the Netherlands

House of Representatives Secretary General Reginald Velasco on Wednesday granted travel clearance to Davao City Representative Paolo "Pulong" Duterte for a personal trip to Japan and the Netherlands.

The clearance came just a day after the lawmaker’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested to face allegations of crimes against humanity over drug war deaths before the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC).

“We got the request [from Congressman Paolo] last night. It (travel clearance) was for March 12 to April 15,” Velasco told reporters, saying his office approved the request at 1 p.m. today.

“This is just ministerial [work on my part] because this is a personal trip, no public funds will be used, so we grant this type of request,” Velasco added.

The arrest warrant issued by the ICC against Duterte was served by local police through the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), which the Philippines is a part of.

Since then, Duterte’s camp has questioned the legality of his arrest upon his arrival in Manila coming from a trip to Hong Kong, saying it was unlawful.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. however, has maintained that the Philippines only complied with Interpol’s request as it should as a party to the Interpol.

The former president was flown via chartered flight to Dubai on Tuesday night for a layover before heading for Rotterdam.

Rep. Paolo's sister, Vice President Sara Duterte, departed Manila on Wednesday morning via a flight headed for Amsterdam in the Netherlands. —KG, GMA Integrated News