VP Sara Duterte returns to PH after month-long stay in The Hague

Vice President Sara Duterte arrives to address people gathering outside the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on March 14, 2025, as former President Rodrigo Duterte appears for the first time before the ICC to face crimes against humanity charges. —Photo by Nicolas Tucat | Agence France-Presse

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte arrived back in the country on Sunday after almost a month in The Hague, The Netherlands, said the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

The vice president returned to the Philippines after organizing the legal team of his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who remains in the custody of the International Criminal Court.

READ: Sara Duterte ‘excited to go home’

“Vice President Sara Duterte arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Sunday, 06 April 2025, at approximately 9:56 p.m. (Philippine Standard Time) via Emirates Airlines flight no. EK 334, following her recently concluded trip to The Hague, Netherlands,” the OVP said in an advisory past midnight on Monday.

Prior to her return, the VP—who is set to face an impeachment trial in the Senate—previously said that she would not leave The Hague until she had set up her father’s legal team.

On Friday, April 4, Sara then announced that she was “excited” to finally go home after finishing organizing her father’s lawyers.

It was on March 13 (Manila time) when Sara first arrived in the Netherlands to assist her father.

READ: Sara Duterte arrives in Amsterdam amid father’s ICC case

Rodrigo Duterte is currently detained at the ICC detention center in Scheveningen, The Hague after being arrested for crimes against humanity he allegedly committed during his administration’s bloody war against drugs which left at least 6,000 people dead—or at least 20,000 per human rights groups’ report.