Digong tells daughter Sara: Cremate me in The Hague if I die here, don’t bring my body home

National

IF he dies while being detained by the International Criminal Court (ICC), former President Rodrigo Duterte wants to be cremated in The Hague instead of bringing his body home.

Vice President Sara Duterte revealed this request by his father when she recently visited him at the ICC detention facility.

“He said that if he dies here in the Netherlands, he doesn’t want his body to be brought back to the Philippines. He just wants to be cremated here, and only his ashes should be brought home,” Sara said in a report by Inquirer.net.

Sara said she disagreed with the idea and told her father they would need to discuss it further, as she is “not pro-cremation.”

Duterte reportedly responded with humor, warning her that he might “haunt her as a ghost” if she failed to follow his wishes.

Sara, when asked how she felt about her father’s request, said such thoughts are understandable given his age.

“Well, that’s probably natural for someone who’s 80 years old, right? To think that way,” she said.

“So it’s also a good thing that we all know his last wishes, so that they can be fulfilled when the time comes,” she added.

The Vice President shared that while the former president had grown visibly thinner, he still appeared healthy and, in her words, “the look suited him better.”

She added that his skin complexion even seemed to have improved since being taken into ICC custody.

The former president is facing charges for crimes against humanity in connection to his administration’s deadly war on drugs.(Edmie Rocsan, UV Comm Intern)