VICE President Sara Duterte on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, slammed the “sham welfare check” conducted by Philippine government officials on former President Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court (ICC) detention facility in The Hague, Netherlands.
In a statement, VP Duterte said she received “disturbing information” from Malacañang that a report about her father was submitted by the Philippine Embassy in The Hague to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
“The officials entered the detention unit under the false pretense of conducting a ‘welfare check’ and interviewed FPRRD. The said officials clearly abused the rule of the detention unit concerning consular visits,” she said.
VP Duterte added that while at least one member of FPRRD’s family visits him almost every day, they were not informed of the Philippine officials’ visit, which they strongly objected to.
She said allowing agents of the very government that “abducted” FPRRD to intrude upon him places his life and safety in imminent danger.
“If such sham ‘welfare checks’ are allowed to continue, then the ICC and the Philippine Government must be prepared to answer, fully and directly, for any harm that comes to Former President Duterte—including, should the worst happen, his death in custody as a direct result of these intrusions under the false pretense of conducting a welfare check,” VP Duterte said.
“These are nothing but orders of President Marcos disguised as consular functions, and we strongly object to such visits. FPRRD does not need you, our family will take care of him,” she added.
VP Duterte noted that those who truly need the visits of Philippine officials are the many detained, distressed, abandoned or neglected overseas Filipinos around the world.
On March 11, FPRRD was arrested on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by the ICC amid its ongoing investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed in the country during his drug war from 2011 to 2019, when he was mayor of Davao City and later president.
He was immediately flown to the Netherlands via private jet for his turnover to the ICC.
In the public redacted version of the “Document Containing the Charges” released by the ICC Monday, September 22, 2025, FPRRD was charged with murder and attempted murder in the deaths of at least 78 victims during his war on illegal drugs. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)