Vice President Sara Duterte has expressed concerns that she could be next in line for prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) following the arrest of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, over alleged crimes against humanity linked to the country’s war on drugs.
In remarks to reporters at Villamor Air Base on Tuesday night, Duterte said her mother had warned her to “be careful” amid speculation that she might also become a target of the tribunal’s ongoing investigation.
The ICC’s probe, which formally resumed last year, is scrutinizing extrajudicial killings carried out during the former president’s anti-drug campaign from 2016 to 2019, as well as alleged summary executions by the so-called Davao Death Squad between 2011 and 2016. Witnesses, according to former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, have implicated the younger Duterte in greenlighting police operations in Davao City when she was mayor from 2016 to 2022.
While the ICC has not confirmed whether Vice President Duterte is under investigation, the possibility has loomed over her political career. The former president, in an interview just before his arrest, urged his daughter to prepare for a presidential run in 2028, suggesting she follow his governance style.
“If you become the president, follow my style and you will be OK. (You) should not be afraid to be jailed,” he said in a television interview.
Rodrigo Duterte’s hard-line anti-drug campaign led to thousands of deaths, drawing sharp criticism from human rights organizations and international bodies. His administration dismissed accusations of state-sponsored killings, arguing that law enforcement was acting against a deeply entrenched narcotics trade.
The Philippines formally withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2019 in an attempt to shield Duterte from international prosecution, but the ICC has maintained jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed before the withdrawal. Duterte, now detained in The Hague, has insisted on his innocence, saying he was merely doing his job.
“I offer no apology. I did what I had to do,” he said.
The arrest of the elder Duterte has shifted the political landscape in the Philippines, placing his allies, including his daughter, under renewed scrutiny. It remains unclear whether the ICC will move to charge other officials connected to the drug war, but legal experts say the tribunal could expand its case if new evidence emerges.
For now, the Vice President remains in a delicate position, caught between defending her father’s legacy and navigating her own political future and the threat of impeachment.
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