Vice President Sara Duterte expressed her strong objection in the recent visit of Philippine Embassy officials in The Hague to her father, former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, calling it a "sham welfare check".

In a statement on Wednesday, Duterte revealed that she "received disturbing information from Malacanang that a report about former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte was submitted to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. by the Philippine Embassy in The Hague.

Sara said the Philippine Embassy officials entered the detention unit under the false pretense of conducting a "welfare check" and interviewed the former president.

"The said officials clearly abused the rule of the detention unit concerning consular visits. Since the month of March, there has always been at least a family member or two that visit Former President Duterte almost every day precisely to guarantee his well-being and humane treatment. The permission given by the ICC in allowing the agents of the very government that abducted FPRRD to intrude upon him, without seeking permission from family members who are in the Hague, places his life and safety in imminent danger," she said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that officials of the Philippine Embassy in The Hague visited Duterte in his detention cell ''which is a duty of all Philippine Foreign Service posts and is no different from what the DFA does for other Filipino citizens who are in detention abroad.''

"If such sham "welfare checks" are allowed to continue, then the ICC and the Philippine Government must be prepared to answer, fully and directly, for any harm that comes to Former President Duterte ?including, should the worst happen, his death in custody as a direct result of these intrusions, the false pretense of conducting a "welfare check". These are nothing but orders of President Marcos disguised as consular functions, and we strongly object to such visits. FPRRD does not need you, our family will take care of him," she added.

Duterte also noted that "Marcos should know that we have several Overseas Filipinos around the world ? detained, distressed, abandoned or neglected ? who have not had the benefit of a single welfare check from the Philippine government."

"They need you but you have failed them," she said. Robina Asido/DMS