Senator Imee Marcos said Friday that former President Rodrigo Duterte could still be returned to the Philippines despite his detention at The Hague.
In a television interview, Marcos urged Senator Bong Go, a close ally of Duterte, not to “lose hope” after Go expressed concerns that a Senate inquiry into Duterte’s detention might be too late.
“Let’s not surrender,” Marcos said.
“You know, we’ve been through this. We’ve been fighting for decades. So let’s not give up right away; maybe we can still win if we prove that what happened was wrong, and that Philippine courts are capable of judging President Duterte. He can face the trial here with us,” she added.
The lady senator referenced her father, former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who went into exile in Hawaii following the 1986 People Power Revolution.
During a hearing, Go voiced his opposition to Duterte being tried by the International Criminal Court, arguing that he should be tried in the Philippines.
“I just can’t accept that he is being tried in another country when he is a Filipino, especially when we have a well-functioning judicial system in our own country,” Go said.
Go stressed Philippine sovereignty and the ability of the country’s legal system to hold its citizens accountable.
“It’s our sovereignty as a nation. We have our own laws, our own processes, our own courts, and we have the ability to hold anyone who commits a crime in our country accountable,” Go said.