Pulong: Dad Duterte says his Davao City house not for sale

The house of former president Rodrigo Duterte in Davao City is not for sale as far as he is concerned, his son Congressman Paolo "Pulong" Duterte said Tuesday—though Duterte's partner Honeylet Avanceña said it was.

In a video report from GMA One Mindanao, Duterte said his father, who is detained in The Netherlands due to alleged crimes against humanity over the drug war killings, was unaware that the house, which he shares with Avanceña, had been put on on the market, despite a "for sale" sign reportedly seen at the house.

“I asked him if he will sell the house in Doña Luisa, and he just said why would it be sold when it was my first house, and Honeylet has her own house which is huge,” the congressman said in Bisaya in an interview in The Hague.

Congressman Duterte said he also asked his father whose name is on the title of the house, but that his answer was unclear.

In a text message to GMA Integrated News, Avanceña said that the house would go to "the highest bidder." However, according to the report of GMA Regional TV’s Sarah Hilomen-Velasco on “24 Oras,” the “for sale” sign had already been removed as of Sunday and the number posted can no longer be contacted. 

The house was where Duterte was photographed sleeping under a mosquito net on bed. It was where Duterte received then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2017. 

GMA Integrated News is trying to reach out Avanceña for further comment.

Congressman Duterte also said that his mother, Duterte’s ex-wife Elizabeth Zimmerman, wants the former president to live in a house with their children in the event that the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) grants Duterte’s bid for interim release.

“Our mother said that hopefully, by God’s grace, if he is released, he will live with us,” the Congressman said. 

The governments of Australia and Belgium earlier said that they are not the unnamed country stated by Duterte's camp in their bid for interim release that is willing to host Duterte pending resolution of the charges leveled against him. — with a report by Vince Angelo Ferreras/BM, GMA Integrated News