By Neil Alcober

Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday said that, based on the affidavit of alias “Rene,” Senator Risa Hontiveros had housed witnesses in the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Speaking to supporters in The Hague, Netherlands, Duterte said she had reviewed the sworn statement of Michael Maurilio, known as “Rene,” who recently recanted his earlier testimony implicating her, her father, and Pastor Apollo Quiboloy in alleged crimes that are under ICC investigation.

“I read his affidavit even before he went public,” the Vice President said in Filipino. “In fact, it states there that he was with the supposed ICC witnesses in a house where Senator Hontiveros had placed him.”

In the affidavit, Rene claimed he was bribed to testify and that his previous statements were false and politically driven.

Hontiveros flatly denounced the accusation and filed criminal complaints for cyber libel against Maurilio and a group of media personalities at the Department of Justice (DoJ) on Wednesday.

Duterte described Rene’s claim as “very serious” and said it should be addressed through legal channels.

“That is a very serious accusation and it should be clearly answered,” she said. “If Rene believes he should file a case, then he should do so — so he can state his claims in court, and the accused can respond properly through legal means.”

While Duterte did not present evidence beyond the affidavit, she emphasized that the contents of Rene’s new sworn statement should be examined in court.

Father’s end-of-life wish

Before the same gathering, Duterte opened up, revealing a deeply personal request from her father that if he dies in The Netherlands, he wants to be cremated there.

Sara had just emerged from the detention center with her husband, Mans Carpio, after spending an hour and a half in a visit with her father.

Reporters called out to them as the couple stepped out of the center.

“He was not in the mood. He was irritated by his nails, so we trimmed them. The guard lent us a nail cutter and we cut his nails for him,” Sara narrated.

Later, she gave a glimpse of what had passed between them.

“He gave his final wishes. He said that if he dies here in the Netherlands, his body shouldn’t be brought back to the Philippines. Just have him cremated here and bring home his ashes,” Sara said in Filipino.

The Vice President said it was only natural for someone like her father — now 80 years old — to start thinking about end-of-life wishes.

“At his age, I guess it’s normal to think about those things,” she said. “And honestly, it’s better that we already know what his last wishes are, so we can honor them when the time comes.”

But she admitted that she wasn’t entirely on board with one specific request: cremation.

“My only objection is that I’m not really in favor of cremation,” Sara said with a small laugh. “What scares me a bit is, what if he haunts me for not following his wish to be cremated?”

Duterte also said her father had lost a lot of weight, but his skin had improved a lot.

“He lost weight. He’s really very thin now, but he’s not weak,” she said.

“And I noticed something earlier — although I didn’t mention it at the time because he wasn’t in a great mood — his skin actually looks good. I don’t know why, but it does. You’d expect his skin to sag since he lost weight, right? But no, it’s tight… it’s like he had Ulthera or something. It’s firm. The wrinkles are just on his forehead. Maybe there’s some kind of skincare routine in there that we don’t know about,” she said, chuckling.