Mr. President, today I rise on a matter of personal and collective privilege.
Last March 11, 2025, former President Rodrigo Duterte was allegedly kidnapped by the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) with indispensable cooperation from our authorities. He was then handed over to the International Criminal Court. Counting from today, it has been more than 6 months since that fateful day. Halos pitong buwan na po mula noong araw na sapilitang kinuha sa atin, o kusang sinuko ng kasalukuyang administrasyon, ang Presidenteng mahal na mahal ng napakaraming Pilipino.
Just this morning, I read a social media post on the official page of our Vice President Sara Duterte, about alleged sham welfare checks conducted on former President Rodrigo Duterte. Let me quote her statement: “I have received disturbing information from Malacañang that a report about Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte was submitted to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. by the Philippine Embassy in The Hague. The officials entered the detention unit under the false pretense of conducting a “welfare check” and interviewed Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
Welfare, Mr. President? Checked by the very same ones who caused the former Philippine President, quite possibly the most well-loved Philippine President, to suffer in foreign jurisdiction?
Anong klaseng welfare kaya ang kanilang sinisiguro, at kaninong welfare? Bold of them to assume that they are in any position to look into his well-being, when in the very first place, securing his well-being should have meant utmost respect for his person, as well as refusal to surrender him to a foreign court. Not because he was the 16th President of the Republic, but perhaps more importantly, because he is a Filipino.
How could those who, months ago, could hardly follow proper legal procedure, be now expected to conduct a lawful welfare check? At sa tingin niyo ba, Mr. President, komportable si former President Duterte na kasama ang mga opisyal na ito–sila na bahagi ng administrasyon na dumakip sa kaniya?
Hindi ba, in layman’s terms, kung na-highblood ka sa isang tao, mas gusto mo na lang siyang iwasan? At kung nakita mo siyang muli, at magtatanong pa siya sayo ng kung anu-anong mga tanong tungkol sa iyong welfare, ay tiyak na maha-highblood ka lang ulit? Isn’t it safe to assume that their presence merely reminded President Duterte of the grievous injustice he was made to face on the fateful day in March this year?
Gugustuhin ba ng isang tao na tumanggap ng dalaw mula sa mga nilalang na maaaring maging sanhi ng pagkulo ng kaniyang dugo? Welfare check ba ito o operasyon para mapaikli ang buhay ng dating Pangulo? Kaninong welfare ba ang gusto niyong mapabuti? Baka ang mainam ay bolahin niyo na lang ang inyong mga sarili. Huwag niyo nang sayangin ang buwis ng taumbayan sa inyong kasinungalingan. Huwag niyo nang idamay ang dating pangulo sa pagpapalapad niyo ng papel.
Sabi nga ng mga inspirational post sa social media: you cannot heal in the same environment that hurt you. You cannot heal in the company of those who merely stood and watched while you were harmed. Ang tingin ba ng administrasyon na ito ay hindi kayang alagaan ng kanyang pamilya si former President Duterte?
More to the point, what was the interview for? Paano kaya nila pakikinabangan at gagamitin ang findings nila tungkol sa welfare niya? Para saan? Sapilitan nyo na ngang ipinadampot sa mga dayuhan, pupuntahan nyo pa sa kulungan nang wala man lang abiso sa pamilya? Isn’t that adding insult to injury? Can’t you, just for a while, cut the old man some slack? Mamahinga naman kayo mula sa pagdaragdag ng sama ng loob kay Tatay Digong.
With all due respect to our Philippine Embassy in The Hague, I, along with so many of our fellow Filipinos, ask for answers.
Mr. President, ever since this year began, I can no longer count the number of issues that have plagued our country and demanded, always our utmost attention, often our deepest outrage. I believe I need not enumerate them anymore.
And just last week, Mr. President, we began our 100-day countdown to Christmas.
Therefore, I would not take it against the ordinary Filipino, if they happen to forget what happened on March 11, 2025. But I haven’t forgotten.
FPRRD to some, Tatay Digong to so many of us, and Mayor Rody for me, is a man whose destiny clearly, unequivocally, preceded him. Para sa isang mayor na nagdadrive ng taxi upang ikutin ang kanyang siyudad, at siguraduhing maayos at payapa ito, lalo na sa gabi. A man who faced his city’s problems head-on, rather than shy away from them, or let his officials take the blows.
With a man like that, the Presidency was therefore practically a done deal. No one else, I repeat, NO ONE ELSE in our lifetime had, or will ever have, the Presidency cut out for him. None except Rodrigo Duterte. Dapat lang talaga, na naging Presidente siya.
Imagine the preposterousness he must endure. This man is now imprisoned in a foreign country, having been surrendered to a foreign court by his own government. Those who hold him in custody who cannot even correctly pronounce his name, are the same ones who now exercise jurisdiction and authority over him. Now, being “welfare checked” by the officials of this administration who helped ensure his imprisonment under those of a foreign tongue? Again, I say: preposterous, Mr. President.
Sabi ng mga eksperto, ang average life expectancy ng isang Filipino male sa taong 2024 ay 71.79 years old, Mr. President. Sa kasalukuyan, si President Duterte raw ay may deteriorating cognitive condition na, ayon sa kanyang legal team. Hindi na raw po “fit to stand trial”. At buto’t balat nalang daw at hirap nang tumayo. Kung pakaiisipin, kung nasa 72 years old ang life expectancy ng isang lalaki dito sa atin, ibig sabihin si President Duterte ay nabigyan na ng Panginoon ng bonus, almost 10 years. He’s now 82 years old. Siyempre, ipinagpapasalamat natin iyan. And yet, if we accept the fact that he may not have long, I hope, with all my heart, that he leaves this world, not in the presence of officials who visit him on the pretext of a pseudo welfare check. But instead, in the company of the people he loves, and who truly care for him.
Since none of us here can even hope to match his patriotism, let us at least strive to be half as nation-loving as he was, as he still most certainly is.
Kung gusto po natin magpakita ng malasakit sa ating dating Pangulong Duterte. Kung talagang gusto po natin masiguro na lagi siyang nasa mabuting kalagayan. Ang nakikita ko pong isa sa mga solusyon ay masuportahan ng bulwagang ito ang kanyang interim release.
Or, more conservatively, let us at least take up proposed Senate Resolution No. 18 or “Resolution Expressing the Sense of the Senate Strongly Urging the Philippine Government to Advocate Before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the Interim Release of Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in a Form of House Arrest Arrangement in a Residence in The Hague, The Netherlands.”
Hindi naman siguro kalabisan ang hiling na iyan. Sa tingin ko ay hindi naman sobra, lalo na’t magpapasko na.
I therefore urge this august body for Proposed Senate Resolution No. 18 to finally be included in our Agenda. I am asking this, not just as a Senator, but as a Filipino. A Filipino who believes that one of the best, most patriotic among us who ever lived does not deserve to spend his remaining years in a foreign prison that does not even speak his language, much less feel like home.
In the end, perhaps this is the least that we can do, in the name of all that he has done for this nation.
Maraming salamat, Mr. President.
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