MANILA, Philippines — A hearing by the quad committee of the House of Representatives scheduled for today and to which former president Rodrigo Duterte had unofficially confirmed his attendance has been canceled.
Quad comm overall chairman Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said the panel decided to reset the hearing to Nov. 21 to give members more time to screen witnesses.
He stressed that the quad comm did not receive any “official confirmation” of the former president’s supposed attendance at today’s cancelled hearing on extrajudicial killings and the deadly drug war during the previous administration.
“As early as last week, the quad comm has already been contemplating to move the hearing on Wednesday because we want all the witnesses to issue their sworn affidavit. Many want to testify. We need to study whom we will present in EJK, in drugs and in POGO. Because of several witnesses, we decided to interview them first and determine who are more credible among them,” Barbers said at a press conference yesterday.
“Again, it should be confirmed that the witnesses to be presented are those with credibility. Previously, we reached a point where we have to subject a witness who wanted to testify to a psychological test and polygraph test to determine if she’s not lying. We cancelled Wednesday’s hearing to give us more time to interview, to scrutinize the witnesses,” he added.
Barbers said that at 6 p.m. on Monday, the quad comm, through its secretariat, had already notified its witnesses or resource persons of the resetting of the hearing to Nov. 21.
“Quad comm chairs had informed the committee secretariat that our hearing on Wednesday (Nov. 13) will not push through and the witnesses were informed via email and Viber notices sent yesterday (Monday),” Barbers said.
Barbers said that as to the witnesses, especially former president Duterte, “nobody confirmed their attendance.”
“All those invited for the Nov. 13 hearing, which we cancelled, will be invited again to attend our hearing on Nov. 21,” he said.
Barbers said quad comm leaders finalized their decision to cancel the Nov. 13 hearing last Sunday.
“We did not receive any official letter from the former president, his camp or his lawyers that he is attending the hearing on Nov. 13 that we cancelled. The former president’s announcement that he would attend the Nov. 13 hearing of the committee was made when we already cancelled the hearing for tomorrow (Nov. 13),” the Surigao del Norte lawmaker said.
Barbers said that quad comm invitations to resource persons were made through official letters, and not through social media.
Suspicious
Zambales Rep. Jay Khonghun said he found it suspicious that there was no direct statement from the Duterte camp that he was attending the hearing today.
The STAR carried a story of an unnamed former Cabinet official’s confirmation of Duterte’s attendance at today’s hearing.
It was former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo who announced on his Facebook page that Duterte would attend today’s cancelled hearing. Panelo expressed his disappointment at the cancellation of the hearing set for today.
Panelo claimed Duterte took the last flight from Davao City to Manila at 11 p.m. on Sunday Nov. 10.
“The plan was to rest on Monday (Nov. 11), medical procedure on Tuesday (Nov. 12) and attend hearing on Wednesday (Nov. 13). He really wanted to appear,” Panelo said.
But Khongun said what Panelo was saying were lies. “What they are doing is totally propaganda only, especially the attendance of the former president in the quad comm hearing. They managed to fool the people in their statement,” Khonghun said.
“If there was no direct statement that the president is attending the hearing, it is just a propaganda through the social media,” he added. “We are hoping that he would attend the scheduled Nov. 21 hearing,” he added.
Sta. Rosa, Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez said the Duterte camp intentionally made the announcement that he was attending today’s hearing to make it appear that the quad comm was the one backing down from a possible face-off with the former president.
Reacting to a statement from Panelo that the quad comm was cowed into cancelling the hearing by Duterte’s promise to show up, Barbers said the committee was not inviting the lawyer.
“Panelo was not the one we invited. It was former president Duterte. We were informed that the lawyers of the former president received letters from (lawyer Martin) Delgra. That is what we are waiting for,” Barbers said referring to Delgra’s supposed letter confirming Duterte’s attendance.
“If it is only on social media, vloggers, it is a disrespect to the committee,” Barbers said.
“Write us. We appreciate the fact that the former president is coming. Quad comm wants that because the EJK on drugs is the centerpiece of the previous administration. We want to directly hear it from the former president,” he added.
“We still have a lot of elbow room to accommodate his attendance,” Fernandez said.
Intentional
He said the timing of Duterte’s statement indicating his intention to appear before the quad comm only hours after the cancellation of the Nov.13 hearing “is a long time style of the former president and his men.”
“It was intentional because we have been discussing it since Sunday. It is their style to make it appear that it was us who backed off from the hearing. We keep on inviting the former president, but he did not say that he would attend. We decide collectively in quad comm,” he pointed out.
“There is a ruling to be followed by the committee, not on social media. You can always deny it, not on social media. They have to formalize everything. It is not even coming from the president. We are governed by laws, rules of the committee, that was the right way to inform the committee and prepare,” Fernandez said.
In a separate interview with “Storycon” on One News yesterday, Fernandez stressed that quad comm did not chicken out.
He said Delgra’s first letter only stated that Duterte would be attending the quad comm hearing after All Saints’ Day.
“But they did not attend and they wrote the second letter, an excuse letter. The reason why he is not attending anymore. When we issued the memorandum cancelling the hearing tomorrow, they suddenly declared on social media that they will be attending. We have seen the intention,” Fernandez said.
Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante said quad comm leaders and members were willing to pay for Duterte’s air fare to ensure that he would be able to attend the hearing.
“We are willing to chip in if the former president is willing to come. Just tell us what date he wants. For us, we would like the people to know. We have respect to the former president. We really want to hear his side of the issue, even if he has already stated many things in the Senate. It is up to him if he would like to come, he is very much welcome,” Abante said.
1-party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez said it is not for Duterte and his camp to make a “unilateral pronouncement.”
“The committee has many questions. There are more questions left than answers because of his absence,” Gutierrez said.
Fernandez said in deference to Duterte’s age, the quad comm would allow the former president to present his testimony the way former senator Juan Ponce Enrile did when the latter faced lawmakers recently to speak about the POGO.
“After testifying, we allowed him to go home. I hope former president Duterte will be able to come here. I hope there is proper decorum, no uttering of bad words, there must be a show of respect. If that will be the tenor of our hearing on Nov. 21, it will be proper like what happened to senator Enrile,” Fernandez said.
Rejoin ICC
Meanwhile, Sen. Risa Hontiveros has called on President Marcos to correct Duterte’s “monumental mistake” by rejoining the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Hontiveros asserted that returning to the ICC would demonstrate the current administration’s commitment to justice and accountability.
“The President can correct a monumental mistake by letting the Philippines rejoin as a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,” Hontiveros said. — Cecille Suerte Felipe