Sara slams altered Digong photo

Vice President Sara Duterte on Friday debunked a photo circulating online showing her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, in a hospital bed with identification tags on his wrist.

She dismissed the image as fake, stressing that her father is “in the pink of health,” even if he is noticeably thinner.

“He may look leaner, but his face is firmer now, less saggy, fewer wrinkles,” the Vice President said in an interview in The Hague, Netherlands, on 11 July.

“This morning someone sent me a photo that appeared to show former president Duterte in a hospital bed with two wristbands. That photo is not real. It was most likely edited. It was probably another patient and they just inserted the face of former president Duterte,” she said in Filipino.

She emphasized that her father is not confined in a hospital but remains in the regular wing of the detention center.

“Just earlier, he was walking on his own using a cane. So clearly, he doesn’t have any illness that would make him bedridden,” she said.

Despite the significant weight loss, the Vice President said her father is in good health and has no serious illness. In a previous interview, she explained that his slimmer physique was due to a change in diet and diabetes.

“I’ll explain what I meant by skin and bones. He’s thin. Really thin, thinner than anyone has ever seen him. I think the last time I saw him this thin was when he was a young man and in photos from that time. His arm is half the size of mine, that’s how thin he is,” she said.

The former president was arrested by Philippine authorities on 11 March based on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in connection with its investigation into his administration’s bloody war on drugs.

He is detained at Scheveningen Prison in The Hague and faces charges of crimes against humanity related to the extrajudicial killings during his presidency. A hearing to confirm the charges is set for 23 September.