Villars voice support for embattled Duterte

MANILA, Philippines —  The Villars have come out to voice their support and sympathies for former president Rodrigo Duterte, with Sen. Cynthia Villar decrying his impending trial before a “foreign” court.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague officially took custody of Duterte on Wednesday (yesterday morning in Manila) after his arrest in Manila on Tuesday.

“I don’t agree. We don’t give our former president to the foreigner,” the senator said.

Family patriarch and former Senate president Manny Villar said he was hurt to see “a very good friend, a former president who dedicated himself to public service, a Filipino citizen, being taken and charged by a foreign entity.”

“It was my hope that former president Rodrigo Duterte would have the opportunity to defend himself in our courts under the protection of our country’s rule of law. I spent years protecting Filipinos overseas when they were charged abroad,” Villar said.

“But he is now in the custody of the ICC. I am certain that as a lawyer himself, former president Digong will avail himself of all legal remedies in order to defend himself before the ICC. I trust that the ICC will conduct fair judicial proceedings, protecting the rights of the defendants,” he added.

Sen. Mark Villar, who was public works chief during the Duterte administration, wished his former boss good health and safety.

On Facebook, Villar recalled receiving a call from Duterte asking him to find a job for the father of a young girl in a children’s cancer ward.

“I remember during my first few years as secretary of Public Works, president Duterte called me personally and I was surprised with the many missed calls prior to me answering. It turns out he was calling from the children’s cancer ward and his plea was for me to help look for a job for the father of one of the child cancer patients,” Villar said.

“The father was an out of work engineer who was having a hard time financially, especially with his child’s condition. We were able to help the father and I remember feeling so touched by his concern for those children,” he added.

“Amidst all the trials and projects we completed during our time together, this stands out as one of my most poignant memories of him and I will always remember the sincerity and kindness of his actions that day. They speak volumes about his character and compassion for others,” the senator said.

“Mr. President, I hope that you are in good health and being treated well. I’m sad that your simple wish to be judged by the Filipino people did not reach fruition. I continue to pray that you will be given the fairness and compassion that all Filipinos deserve,” he added.

VP to form legal team

Former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said the Vice President is set to form a separate team to assist in her father’s legal defense during his trial.

“Inday Sara already arrived in the Netherlands.  The reason why she went there is to create a legal team for the defense of the former president,” Panelo said over dzBB.

“His (Duterte) lawyers here in the Philippines cannot represent him as the case is not in the Philippines, so she needs to tap lawyers who are practicing (in The Hague),” he said as he insisted that Duterte’s arrest was illegal.

“The soft copy of the warrant was only presented when he was already brought to the Villamor Airbase. He was illegally detained at the Villamor Airbase and at night he was forcibly removed, kidnapped and brought to another country,” Panelo said.

With the Marcos administration itself declaring that the Philippines is no longer part of the ICC, the arrest should then be considered illegal, Panelo noted.

“From the very start, the government has been saying that the ICC has no jurisdiction. If the ICC has no jurisdiction, it is illegal to meddle with our affairs, so all the actions of the ICC are illegal. The warrant of arrest is fake because it is coming from a fake, spurious institution that has no jurisdiction over our country,” he maintained.

“They claimed that the habeas corpus is already moot and academic as he already left. That’s wrong. If the government commits an illegal act, that illegal act follows this government to wherever the person that it detained illegally, kidnapped illegally and thrown out of this country. That’s why the Supreme Court has jurisdiction on this,” he said.