Sara Duterte to return to The Hague on her birthday

Vice President Sara Duterte announced Wednesday that she will go back to the Netherlands to celebrate her birthday on May 31 with her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently detained in The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity.

In an ambush interview in Negros Occidental, Duterte said she will return to the Netherlands with her mother, Elizabeth Zimmerman, ex-wife of the former president. 

“Nag-promise ako sa mga magulang ko, sa nanay at tatay ko na sa birthday ko, silang dalawa ‘yung kasama ko. So babalik ako sa The Hague sa birthday ko kasama ‘yung nanay ko,” Sara Duterte told reporters. 

(I promised my parents, both my mother and my father, that I will be with them on my birthday. So I'm going back to The Hague with my mother on my birthday.)

“Kasi pagbisita niya noong nakaraan, hindi siya nakapasok dahil wala siyang permission. So nung nagkausap kami ni [dating] Pangulong Duterte kahapon, inaantay niya na magbisita ‘yung nanay ko. At sinabihan ko rin ‘yung nanay ko, sabi ko na sa birthday ko na lang tayong magkita tatlo,” she added.

(When my mother went there the last time, she wasn’t able to visit my father because she wasn’t given permission. So when former President Duterte and I talked yesterday, he said he was waiting for my mother to visit. And so I also told my mother that the three of us will be together on my birthday.) 

The Vice President, who is turning 47 years old on May 31, just returned to the Philippines earlier this month after more than three weeks in the Netherlands to provide support for her incarcerated father. 

The Duterte patriarch was arrested in the Philippines by local authorities last March 11 based on a warrant of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). —RF, GMA Integrated News