THE House of Representatives may be forced to use former President Rodrigo Duterte’s statements made during the Senate investigation if he refuses to attend the House’s own investigation into the illegal drug trade, extra-judicial killings (EJK), and Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO).
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, a member of the House Quad Committee investigating the EJKs during the war on drugs, assured that the invitation to Duterte is open-ended. He expressed hope that the former president would still change his mind and attend the hearing.
Barbers made the statement after Duterte reportedly said he would not attend the House investigation and advised the Quad Comm to simply review his previous statements made during the Senate hearings.
“As we have said, our invitation to him is open-ended. If he cannot attend, we will respect that. As he said, he already made statements during the Senate hearing, so if he cannot attend, we might base our committee report on those Senate statements,” Barbers said.
Barbers added that they will formally request a transcript from the Senate to use as a basis for their committee report on Duterte’s drug war policy, which allegedly resulted in the deaths of up to 30,000 people, mostly poor individuals, including innocent children.
It can be recalled that Duterte took responsibility for the war on drugs and admitted to having a death squad composed of wealthy individuals in Davao City during his time as mayor.
“If we reach the point where we terminate our hearing and the former president still refuses to attend, we will simply request a transcript from the Senate because we can get some information from there,” the lawmaker said.
However, the Quad Comm has no plans to cite Duterte in contempt if he does not attend the hearing, as a courtesy to his former position in the government.
