Duterte probe empty; senators slam executive privilege, sub judice excuse of gov’t execs to justify absence

Empty seats on the resumption of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on former President Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest.

MANILA, Philippines – Senators slammed the executive privilege and sub judice excuse of government officials as a justification for ignoring the committee hearing on the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Empty seats filled the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs on its second hearing on Thursday (April 3) following the letter of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin informing chairperson Sen. Imee Marcos that government executives will not attend the probe as it infringes on the officials’ executive privilege and the habeas corpus petitions pending before the Supreme Court.

Senate president Francis “Chiz” Escudero agreed with Senator Imee Marcos that executive privilege does not apply on legislative inquiries.

“Hindi aplikable ‘yun sa aking paniniwala,” Escudero said in a press conference before the hearing.

“Ang pagkakaroon ng kaso ay hindi rason o dahilan ayon mismo sa Korte Supreme na hindi dumalo o hindi sumagot sa mga katanungan ang sino mang iniimbitahan ng kongreso kaugnay sa inquiry in aid of legislation,” he said.

He however said he did not persuade the president’s sister to discontinue the hearing even in the absence of key resource persons.

Dismayed, Imee said the committee would have to issue another subpoena to the resource persons that this time would need Escudero’s signature.

“Lahat kami ay nalulungkot at wala tayong testigo na sumipot, nakakayamot naman talaga,” she said.

In a previous interview, the re-electionist senator slammed the former Chief Justice and said the sub judice excuse only applies to specific questions and not on all topics.

“Alam niya na walang pangkalahatang blanket na executive privilege. I-i-invoke lang ‘yung executive privilege depende sa tanong,” she said in an earlier interview.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayeto also echoed the same belief saying the invocation of executive privilege and sub judice rule has long been established both in jurisprudence and in Senate history.

“Mere filing of a case or a mere pendency of the case does not stop the hearing nor is it a reason for them not to discuss,” he said in his opening statement in the hearing.

“In fact kapag ka ‘yung executive department, ma-te-test pa nga ‘yung consistency eh na kung ang sasabihin nila dito at ang sasabihin nila sa korte ay pareho,” he said.

The executive powers of the president also known as an executive privilege is a power granting the state chief to withhold information from the public, the courts and the Congress.

The sub judice rule on the other hand probits parties involved to speak about or make comments about the case publicly to avoid

Among those absent in today’s hearing were Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro, National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano, Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon, Philippine Center on Transnational Crime Executive Director Anthony Alcantara, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Director General Nicolas Torre III, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief General Romeo Marbil, PNP Brigadier General Jean Fajardo, officials officials of the Philippine Air Force and everyone involved in the March 11 arrest.

Marcos, along with fellow Senators Bato dela Rosa, Bong Go and Cayetano continued the committee’s initial probe on Duterte’s arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court’s in The Hague, Netherlands.

During the first hearing on March 20, the absentees of today’s hearing were grilled by Imee and found themselves floundereding with conflicting answers.

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