Sara Duterte gets Palace approval for 22-day overseas travel

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Wednesday confirmed that Vice President Sara Duterte had been granted travel authority and will be out of the country from April 23 to May 15.

The vice president’s declared itinerary includes the Netherlands, South Korea, Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

In a message to the Inquirer, Executive Secretary Ralph Recto said the Office of the President had issued the travel authority requested by the vice president.

READ: Over 600 transactions of Sara Duterte worth P6.7B flagged by AMLC

Based on Duterte’s request, she will be on official leave for 22 days, and that the trips would be “at no cost to the government.”

The vice president is leaving the country at a time when the House committee on justice is about to conclude hearings assessing the impeachment complaints against her for probable cause.

Sotto already sets date

While it is yet to be seen whether the complaints will eventually get enough votes in the House plenary to be transmitted to the Senate for trial, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Tuesday already gave a date for convening the impeachment court.

“Technically, we may convene by May 4 — that’s when we should resume. That’s just two weeks away,” Sotto said in a press briefing.

“By May 4, if we receive the articles of impeachment, then we will immediately convene as an impeachment court.”

Some of Duterte’s most recent trips have been to the Netherlands, where her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, has been detained since March last year on charges arising from his bloody war on drugs, now being heard by the International Criminal Court at The Hague. /cb /atm