House Retains Inquiry Schedule after Rodrigo Duterte’s Camp Said Former President To Attend the Hearing
RODRIGO DUTERTE’S CAMP – The camp of the former President confirmed his attendance to the hearing after the House postponed the inquiry.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have launched a probe on the drug war of the Duterte administration. Undeniably, the fight against the illegal substance is the most popular campaign of the admin of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte. However, it is surrounded by issues and allegations.
Several deaths are linked to the drug war of the previous administration. However, former Pres. Duterte rejected the desire of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate his admin’s campaign. The Philippines is currently not part of the ICC after the former President withdrew the country’s participation to the international ruling.
Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel has recently called on Pres. Bongbong Marcos to consider the rejoining of the Philippines to ICC. Pimentel was the one who presided the Senate inquiry on the war on drugs which was led by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.
At the Senate hearing, former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte said that he only did his job and he has warned the people before he assumed office not to engage in drugs. According to him, the campaign was to protect the Filipino people and the Philippines.
Duterte had several claims and admissions at the Senate inquiry. He also claimed that a drug den was allegedly recently raided inside the Malacañang. Pres. Bongbong Marcos refused to comment on the claims of the former President at the hearing.
At the House Quad Committee hearing on the war on drugs, the former President snubbed several invitations to the hearing. Previously, his camp explained that the former Chief Executive has doubts on the integrity and independence of the panel that handles the probe.
Former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte also said that going to Metro Manila will be costly for him and he is only depending on his retirement pay. One of the House Quad Comm members asked if the former President is afraid to attend the hearing to which Duterte said they don’t scare him a bit.
A House Quad Comm hearing is set today but the panel has initially decided to postpone it and then to cancel the notice for postponement after former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s camp confirmed that he will attend the inquiry. Based on a report on ABS-CBN News, former presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo claimed that they were not informed that the hearing will be postponed.
“(Former) PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) and I will go to Batasang Pambansa tomorrow at 10:00am and confront the Quad Committee members why after demanding his presence and accepting their invitation and coming here last night, they will just cancel it without prior notice,” Panelo claimed.
However, contrary to the claim of Panelo, the House Quad Comm leaders asserted that they have informed former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s camp that the hearing will be postponed. According to the report, House Quad comm lead co-chairperson Rep. Robert Ace Barbers also said that as of Tuesday noon, they have yet to receive a formal communication from the camp of the former President regarding his attendance to the probe.