section_path: Reactions/Former Duterte administration officials and allies
section_name: Former Duterte administration officials and allies
paragraph_text: Former Duterte administration officials and allies
  
  Salvador Panelo, the former chief presidential legal counsel and presidential spokesperson of Rodrigo Duterte, lambasted Duterte's arrest as unlawful, stating that the Philippines was no longer a member of the ICC. The Supreme Court, to which he is answerable as an "officer of the court", had previously ruled that the country remained obliged to cooperate with the ICC regarding events leading up to its withdrawal.
  
  Duterte's daughter, Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, criticized the Philippine government while announcing that her father would be flown to the International Criminal Court. In her statement, she considered her father's detention to be "a blatant affront to our sovereignty and an insult to every Filipino who believes in our nation's independence". She labeled his arrest as " state kidnapping ". While on a flight to the Netherlands on March 12, Vice President Duterte changed her profile pictures on Facebook and X to a digital red ribbon containing the text "BRING PRRD HOME 👊🏻".
  
  Duterte's son and Davao City mayor Sebastian Duterte alleged on Facebook that his father was being denied medical care while in custody and that the government was trying to get him to board a plane without disclosing the destination. The Philippine government maintained that Duterte was in good condition.
  
  On March 14, 2025, Sara Duterte publicly disclosed that she would not return to the Philippines for an unspecified period, stating that she would focus on forming her father's legal team. The next day, Sara stated that she would not return to her country until another family relative arrived in the Netherlands to accompany her father. On April 7, 2025, she returned to the Philippines.
  
  Sebastian Duterte has alleged that search warrants have been issued for the residences of his father and other members of the Duterte family, which the PNP has denied. In a statement in the Netherlands on March 16, Sara Duterte stated that she expected evidence against her family to be planted during a police search.
  
  Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, who is seeking recognition as legal counsel for Rodrigo Duterte at the ICC, reiterated Duterte's wish to be tried in the Philippines in a Facebook post. Roque stated that he anticipates receiving information regarding potential ICC arrest warrants against other individuals connected to Duterte's drug war, including Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who served as the chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) from 2016 to 2018 during the peak of the drug war, and other former PNP chiefs. Roque, who has previously advised dela Rosa and other former PNP chiefs on ICC-related matters, highlighted the ICC's use of the term "co-perpetrator" in Duterte's warrant, suggesting that other high-ranking officials could also be identified as equally responsible for the alleged crimes.