VP Sara: We still don't know if elected Davao City mayor Duterte can take oath

Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday said it was still uncertain whether or not her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, will be able to take his oath as Davao City mayor while being detained in The Hague, Netherlands.

Duterte said that her father has separate lawyers tasked to prepare for possible oath-taking on or before June 30. 

“Hanggang ngayon, wala pang oath si dating Pangulong Duterte. Hindi pa namin alam dito sa Davao City kung mag-ooath ba ang pinili namin na mayor ng Davao City,” the Vice President said at a press conference. 

(Until now, former President Duterte has not taken an oath. We don’t know yet if our elected mayor of Davao City will take the oath.) 

“On that note, ‘yun lang ang pinagbabasehan namin. Sa ngayon, hindi siya uupo kasi wala pa siyang oath. Antayin natin siguro until June 30 kung may oath o wala si dating Pangulong Duterte,” she added. 

(On that note, that's all we’re basing on. Right now, he won't be able to sit as mayor because he hasn't taken an oath yet. Maybe we just have to wait until June 30 to see if former President Duterte would be able to take an oath or not.) 

Newly elected local officials are set to assume their posts on June 30, following the May 12 midterm polls. Rodrigo Duterte won a landslide victory in the mayoral race, while his son Sebastian "Baste" Duterte won as vice mayor. 

The lawyer of Rodrigo Duterte earlier asked the International Criminal Court that he be released to a country, which has yet to be made public. 

His defense counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, said in the request that, “Mr. Duterte does not meet any of the conditions to warrant further pre-trial detention as provided in Article 58(1)(b). He does not pose an objective risk of flight, nor is his arrest necessary to ensure the integrity of the investigations or to preclude the continued commission of crimes. He must, as a result, be immediately released from ICC custody.”

Duterte was arrested on March 11 in Manila, delivered to ICC custody on March 12, and detained at the ICC Detention Center on March 13.

He is currently detained in the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague for charges of crimes against humanity for the extrajudicial killings during his administration’s war on drugs. –NB, GMA Integrated News