In Photo:Senator Imee with PRRD’s lead lawyer Nicholas Kaufman
- VP Sara and Sen. Imee visit PRRD in The Hague
“We will bring PRRD home”. This is the message of Sen. Imee Marcos after she emerged from a meeting with Atty. Nicholas Kaufman, the lead counsel of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Senator Imee was in the company of VP Sara Duterte and her mother Elizabeth Z. Duterte to visit the former President who is detained in the Hague on orders of the International Criminal Court.
The senator had been very vocal against what she termed as “kidnapping” of fPRRD. She had personally filed administrative and criminal complaints against those behind what she and the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate described as illegal arrest. Among those facing charges before the Ombudsman are newly re-appointed members of the Cabinet and the newly appointed head of the Philippine National Police, Gen. Nicolas Torre.
Vice President Sara and Senator Imee had made a stopover in Qatar on their way to the Netherlands. They were welcomed by a throng of Overseas Filipino Workers who had their day off to meet the duo.
Senator Imee publicly declared her total support for the Vice President’s concern and efforts to free the former president from the ICC detention facility where he faces charges of alleged crime against humanity. The charge sheet which was originally read before fPRRD includes the deaths of 43 individuals in Duterte’s much heralded war against drug syndicates for the span of six years. Of late, the prosecutors asked for a period of extension of the trial which is supposed to begin in September.
Lawyer Kaufman had earlier taken a swipe at Marcos claiming that the President is the real prosecutor of Duterte.
President Marcos sister, Senator Imee, on the other hand issued a statement which the Mindanao Journal quoted here verbatim:
“Sabi ko kay VP Inday Sara Duterte, higit kanino man, alam ko ang pakiramdam ng mawalay sa sariling bayan, kaya’t simula’t sapul alam niya ang laman ng aking puso patungkol sa ‘di katanggap-tanggap na sinapit ni PRRD,”
“Hindi ako naghintay ng 39 years para lang magkamali muli, may Marcos na natuto sa kasaysayan.”
The Senator made clear her stand to Vice President Sara that above anyone else she knows the feeling of one who is exiled in his own native land, that is why she knew from the very start what is in my heart about the unacceptable fate of PRRD.
‘’I will not wait for 39 years in order to commit another mistake, there is a Marcos who have learned her lesson in history.” Senator Imee added.
