Bato, Imee eye subpoenas for Cabinet execs absent in Senate probe on Duterte arrest
Bato, Imee eye subpoenas for Cabinet execs absent in Senate probe on Duterte arrest
Metro Manila, Philippines - Senators Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa and Imee Marcos want subpoenas issued against the Cabinet officials who skipped the second Senate hearing into the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday.
Dela Rosa, who was the chief implementer of the bloody war on drugs during the Duterte administration, made a motion for the subpoena in his preliminary statement. This was his first appearance in the Senate since Duterte’s arrest and turnover to the International Criminal Court (ICC) detention on March 11.
“I would like to move that we issue a subpoena to these government officials to require their presence in the next hearing,” the senator said. “Dapat ma-subpoena ito sila para magka-alaman (They should be subpoenaed so we could find out the truth).”
The presidential sister, who leads the Senate Foreign Relations panel, backed Dela Rosa’s motion.
Sen. Marcos said the panel already has a pending subpoena request against Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon and Philippine Air Force Commanding General Arthur Cordura who both skipped the first hearing on March 20.
“Palagay ko dadami ang subpoena na hihilingin natin sa ating senate president dahil marami na po ang absent, pagkarami-rami,” she added.
[Translation: I think there will be more subpoenas that we will request from our senate president as there are a lot who are absent, a lot of them.]
Executives who skipped the recent probe include Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, Justice Secretary Boying Remulla, and Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac.
Other high ranking officials who did not attend are National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Anthony Alcantara, Philippine National Police Chief Rommel Marbil, Gen. Jean Fajardo, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Director Nicolas Torre, and Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra.
According to the Foreign Affairs committee records, Alcantara, Año, and SILG Remulla earlier confirmed their attendance but withdrew a day before the probe.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin formally declined the Senate’s invitation for executive officials to attend the hearing in a letter addressed to Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero and Sen. Marcos dated Monday, March 31.
Bersamin noted that the invited officials had already answered questions not covered by executive privilege during the previous hearing.
READ: Palace backtracks, prohibits execs from Senate hearing on Duterte’s ICC arrest
Meanwhile, Escudero said that he has asked the Senate’s legal team to study if a subpoena can still be issued after the Palace invoked its executive privilege.
“Ayokong maglikha ng isang constitutional crisis sa pamamagitan ng pag isyu ng subpoena kung may (I don’t want to create a constitutional crisis by issuing a subpoena if there is already an) invocation of executive privilege. Our resort should be with the courts,” he said.
He also said that it is up to the Cabinet officials if they decide to attend or skip the probe.
“Sinagot naman ang lahat ng tanong noong nagdaang hearing. Ngayon kung may mga panibagong tanong, magandang maipukol ‘yon sa pamamagitan ng hearing na ito,” Escudero said.
“Kung hindi man, sa pamamagitan ninyo na aming mga kasamahan sa media kung sila ay sasagot sa mga katanungan,” he added.
[Translation: All questions were answered during the previous hearing. Now if there are new questions, it would be good to have them answered through this hearing. If not, they can answer through our media colleagues, if they decide to answer the questions.]
Duterte was arrested based on a warrant from the ICC for crimes against humanity, stemming from allegations that he ordered extrajudicial killings as both Davao mayor and President.
The former chief executive is under ICC custody and is set to face the pre-trial chamber for his confirmation of charges on Sept. 23.
