Senator Robin Padilla has moved to open a Senate inquiry into reports that former senator Antonio Trillanes IV was tapped to check on former president Rodrigo Duterte’s condition while detained in The Hague, Netherlands.
In Senate Resolution No. 141, Padilla questioned whether Trillanes was officially authorized by the Philippine government to carry out a welfare visit, stressing that the matter must be clarified.
“Such alleged designation raises questions of legality, constitutionality, and propriety of designating private individuals to represent the State before international tribunals and the extent of accountability of such designations to the Filipino people,” the resolution stated. It added that the Senate should exercise its oversight role to ensure transparency and possibly craft legislation on how government representatives act before international bodies.
Trillanes, for his part, dismissed the issue and urged the Dutertes to verify it directly with the former president. “Game ako diyan. Pero mas madali kung tanungin na lang nila mismo si Digong kung bumisita nga ako sa kanya o hindi. Anyway, si Sara can talk to him over the phone any time,” he said.
Vice President Sara Duterte earlier questioned the supposed welfare check carried out by the Philippine Embassy in The Hague. She said her family could personally take care of her father and that such visits from the government were unnecessary.
The Department of Foreign Affairs defended the embassy’s action, saying that welfare checks are part of its mandate under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations to safeguard the rights of all Filipinos abroad.
On Wednesday, the Senate also voted to adopt a resolution asking the International Criminal Court (ICC) to consider placing Duterte under house arrest on humanitarian grounds.
The former president was arrested on March 11 in the Philippines on an ICC warrant and is currently detained in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity linked to alleged extrajudicial killings during his administration’s anti-drug campaign.
