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Bella Cariaso - The Philippine Star
July 9, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte is back in The Hague, where she will be staying until July 23 to be with her father, detained former president Rodrigo Duterte, amid a pending motion to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his interim release.
“We arrived on Sunday afternoon and the flight was OK. The flight was a bit tiring because it’s 16 hours total flight time,” Duterte said in a video interview posted by vlogger Alvin & Tourism on Facebook.
Honeylet Avanceña, the ex-president’s common-law wife, will arrive soon after Vice President Duterte departs on July 23.
Prior to the arrival of the Vice President, her mother, Elizabeth Zimmerman, accompanied her former husband.
“We are allowed four days a week of visits so we are maximizing the grant of the detention unit that we can visit four times a week,” the Vice President said.
Meanwhile, she noted that her father is up to speed on various activities mounted by supporters to demand his release.
“We mentioned that you are here. We also mentioned the walk for Duterte on July 5 here in The Hague. We also mentioned the run for Duterte in Davao City and Cebu on July 6. So, he knows,” the Vice President said.
She added that she will inform the former president on the scheduled mobilization on July 19 in The Hague.
“I also mentioned to him that someone gave him a perpetual mass, so, we are praying for him every day,” Duterte said.
List of evidence
The prosecutor of the ICC has formally submitted the list of evidence it intends to rely on during the confirmation of charges hearing of former president Duterte on Sept. 23.
The list was submitted on July 4, the deadline earlier set by the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I.
The actual list of evidence was filed as confidential as it “includes information about the Prosecution’s evidence, including sensitive witness information.”
But based on available data, the prosecutor has already disclosed over 3,600 pieces of evidence to Duterte’s defense team.
A separate filing, signed by ICC deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang, confirmed that another 1,253 items were disclosed to the defense on July 1.
Eleven batches of evidence totaling over 2,400 were earlier disclosed to the Duterte’s team.
These form part of the evidence disclosure process, which requires the ICC Office of the Prosecutor to disclose to Duterte’s legal team the evidence that it intends to rely on during the confirmation of charges hearing.
The confirmation of charges hearing is part of the ICC procedure where pre-trial judges determine if there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial.
If the charges are confirmed, the case will be assigned to a trial chamber, where additional evidence may be presented.
Based on the latest disclosure, the 1,253 items disclosed last July 1 were divided into 10 thematic categories.
These include contextual elements; information related to Davao death squad, barangay clearance operations and high-value targets; modes of liability; information that suggests a line of defense; and other materials for the preparation of the defense.
The defense is also expected to disclose the evidence it will rely on during the confirmation of charges hearing.
VP going to Korea
Meanwhile, Vice President Duterte confirmed that she will be in South Korea on July 28 to join supporters during a protest rally, and will therefore be absent again from President Marcos’ State of the Nation Address (SONA).
“Of course not. No SONA for me. The Korea Filipino community gathering is confirmed,” she told vlogger Alvin & Tourism.
At the same time, she also agreed with Zubiri’s remarks that the impeachment case is a political “witch hunt” against her.
“Witch hunt. Well, obviously, first of all, if you look at the budget hearing last year, all of their questions were about confidential funds. They only tasked somebody to ask a few questions about the budget proposal of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) that has no confidential funds,” she said. — Janvic Mateo, Alexis Romero, Jose Rodel Clapano, Daphne Galvez
