Pulong Duterte shortens travel to 2 countries, seeks House clearance

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives is still evaluating Rep. Paolo Duterte’s (Davao, 1st District) revised request to travel, the Office of the Secretary General said. This time, it’s no longer 17 stops. 

In a statement on Wednesday, December 17, Executive Director Jose Marmoi Salonga explained that the chamber had received Duterte’s initial request to travel to 17 countries from December 15 to February 20. 

However, the House raised questions about Duterte’s travel, as his original request did not specify a purpose. This led to officials asking him to submit a revised request with additional details.

Salonga said this was necessary to properly assess the request, particularly since the proposed travel dates would overlap with official session days.

In the updated request, Duterte only seeks clearance to travel from January 3 to 15 and on January 30, 2026 to visit the Netherlands to visit his father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who is detained in the International Criminal Court’s detention facility for crimes against humanity charges. 

He also seeks to visit his daughter, whom he said is studying in Australia. 

Duterte originally requested clearance to travel to Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, United States, Australia, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy and Singapore. 

These are the same 17 foreign destinations that he managed to travel to from March 20 to May 10, just a week after the former president was flown to the Hague. When he filed his revised travel authority then, he described the multiple stopovers as a “personal trip.”

Duterte stated in his request letter that he would be spending his personal funds during the trip to the Netherlands and Australia, the same as the time he left from March to May. 

“The revised request is currently under evaluation in accordance with House rules and administrative procedures, considering institutional requirements and official session schedules,” Salonga added. 

What remains unknown yet to the public, however, is why Duterte would ask for approval to make 17 foreign stopovers in the span of two months and why they were the same places he went from March to May.