VP Sara on meeting dad Duterte: He looked well-rested, missed Filipino food

Former President Rodrigo Duterte looked well-rested and was missing Filipino food when she saw him for the first time after being detained on crimes against humanity charges before the International Criminal Court in The Hague, his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte said Friday.

On GMA Integrated News stringer Andy Peñafuerte's Facebook live, Sara addressed the media and their Filipino supporters outside the ICC after Duterte faced the tribunal and was read the charges against him while he watched via a video link from detention.

The Vice President said she met her father at the facility's visiting area. She said she didn't see where he was detained.

During her one-hour visit, Sara said she told her father that he looked well-rested to which he said he slept and watched TV. She said his only complaint was he was missing Filipino food, particularly inun-unan, the Visayan equivalent of paksiw (fish cooked in vinegar).

The Vice President said the former president also asked her to immediately return to the Philippines.

''As a request he asked me to go home. He repeatedly said, 'Do not leave the country. Do not leave the Philippines.' I told him I know I understand. I don't want to be here as well but unfortunately I'm the only who has a Schengen visa and I am the only one who is a lawyer. I told him when we are able to meet with the legal team I will immediately return home and do my work,'' she said, adding her father has appointed British lawyer Nicholas Kaufman as defense counsel.

''I told him I just have to form that legal team, then I can work remotely in the Philippines talking to the legal team and just need a next of kin to come here. Everyone's applying for a visa right now,'' she added.

Moreover, she told her father to inform the detention facility's medical staff right away if he experienced any discomfort.

Jurisdiction

Earlier, one of Duterte's lawyers, Harry Roque, said the legal team would want the court to rule on whether or not the manner of the former president's arrest would result in the tribunal losing jurisdiction.

"We are very much disappointed that the court did not address the issue of kidnapping as a means to divest the court of jurisdiction," Roque said outside the ICC in his Facebook Live.

"The ICC should again set an example in promoting international justice and when kidnapping is allowed as a means of acquiring jurisdiction of the accused, we think this too is a travesty of justice," he added.

"The illegality of the arrest should divest the courts of its jurisdiction. you cannot correct a wrong by committing another wrong," Roque said, citing South African jurisprudence.

Roque said they would raise the issue of jurisdiction before the confirmation of charges hearing on September 23.

''We believe that the issue of jurisdiction is both on the implication of kidnapping as a means of divesting the court of jurisdiction and whether or not the court has jurisdiction despite the fact that preliminary examination was commenced two years after we had already withdrawn from our membership in the court,'' he said.

''We believe confirmation of charges is relevant, particularly in the elements of the crime. But we would want that the issue of jurisdiction be ruled upon at an earlier date. Because as we know, when the court has no jurisdiction, it is pointless to proceed to the confirmation of charges.''

Sara reiterated that Filipino authorities kidnapped her father to surrender him to the ICC.

''If you talk to lawyers, they call it extraordinary rendition, but for a family member like me that's kidnapping,'' she said. ''That's forcibly taking my father to another country and illegally arresting him.''

Sara said that she would let the lawyers decide if they would ask the ICC for an interim release. 

She also addressed reports that the Dutertes' homes were the subjects of search warrants.

''I mentioned to my siblings that you don't have control over this anymore. I just told them just secure your valuables, just allow them to do the search and we expect that there will be planted evidence inside the houses,'' Sara said.

''I told them that no one should be hurt, no one should resist, just allow them to do what is legal.''

The Police Regional Office 11 denied that there were any plans to raid the former president's home in Davao City.

Speaking to a largely Filipino crowd, Sara said the current challenges their family is facing made her ''more resilient, and I think it's preparing me for something bigger than what is happening right now.''

She also invited supporters to a ''casual meet and greet'' in the Netherlands on March 23, five days before the former president's 80th birthday.

Meanwhile, Sara shared a message from her father to their supporters.

''Sabihin mo sa kanila, 'relax lang, may hangganan ang lahat. There will be a day of reckoning for all,''' she said.

(Please tell them just relax, everything comes to an end. There will be a day of reckoning for all.) –with a report from Athena Imperial/NB/VBL, GMA Integrated News