Sen. Imee Marcos

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Imee Marcos expressed her dismay at the decision of the Malacañang Palace to have key government officials skip the April 3 hearing of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs investigating the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte. 

The decision was sent through a letter penned by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on March 31 informing the committee chair that the concerned members of the Marcos cabinet will invoke their executive privilege and the sub judice rule as four habeas corpus petitions are now pending before the Supreme Court. 

“Nakakalungkot naman kasi alam ninyo maraming tanong pa rin bitin pa rin kasi preliminary report pa lang naman ang kinaya ko eh marami pa ring katanungan ng taumbayan,” Marcos said in a chance interview. 

During the hearing, government executives found themselves making conflicting statements as to the legality of the Philippine government’s surrender of the former president to the International Criminal Police Organization upon the strength of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.

“Andami nga nag-te-text, nagtatanong tapos marami rin bagong impormasyon na sana maging pagkakatao para ‘yung mga magulong sagot, ‘yung mga hindi magkatugma-tugma na mga datos at saka ‘yung mga katanungan ng taumbayan, sana pagkakataon ‘yun para maisagot ng ating gobyerno,” Imee said. 

“‘Yun nga ang inaantay ko na. Sabi nga ni presidente na hindi kami hihintuin pero ang liwa-liwanag ng sulat,” Imee said.  

The re-electionist lawmaker slammed the former Chief Justice for his insistence of the executive privilege. 

“Chief Justice si secretary Bersamin, kabisado niya ‘yan. Alam niya na walang pangkalahatang blanket na executive privilege. I-i-invoke lang ‘yung executive privilege depende sa tanong,” she said.  

The senator said she is still hoping the Palace would still consider its decision as the hearing is a crucial avenue for the government to defend their move to the people. 

“One-by-one lang ‘yun, walang pangkalahatang executive privilege lahat ng topic kaya nagulat ako kaya sabi ko sa kanila eh may sulat ako sa kanila baka naman ma-reconsider nila kasi sayang naman ang pagkakataon maririnig ng tao kung ano talaga ang nangyari,” she said. 

“Kung nagkamali ako tatanggapin ko naman at mas maganda ‘yung nagkakaliwanagan kasi ‘pag ‘di sumisipot, ang duda ng tao may tinatago,” she said. 

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