Says govt officials need to explain ‘new information’
SEN. Imee Marcos has rejected the position of Malacañang disallowing Cabinet officials from attending today’s hearing of the Committee on Foreign Relations on the March 11 arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Marcos, as committee chairperson, sent a letter to Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on April 1 saying that she saw no justifiable reason why Cabinet officials should skip the hearing scheduled today.
“Regrettably, the undersigned finds none of the reasons you adduced in the letter as sufficient for the refusal of executive officials to attend the hearing,” Marcos said.
“The undersigned hopes that you reconsider your decision and allow the invited Cabinet members to attend the scheduled hearing,” she added.
Bersamin, in a letter to Marcos and Senate President Francis Escudero last Monday, declined the committee’s invitation asking Cabinet officials who attended the March 20 hearing to again appear before the panel today.
Bersamin said Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC) executive director Anthony Alcantara, PNP chief PGen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, and PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director PMGen. Nicolas Torre III, among others, have already “candidly provided all information” needed by the committee.
He also said that matters not covered by executive privilege have already been “extensively discussed.”
He added that other technical issues related to Duterte’s arrest cannot be openly discussed in public because of the sub judice rule, citing the petitions that have been filed before the Supreme Court (SC) questioning the legality of the government’s action.
Bersamin also noted that Marcos has already issued her “comprehensive findings” when she released the panel’s preliminary committee report based on the first hearing.
In a press conference last week, Marcos said the committee has determined that Duterte’s arrest was allegedly “premeditated” and was supposedly attended by irregularities.
She also said that the panel has determined that the rights of Duterte were violated when the government served the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and transported him to the Netherlands, where he is now detained at the ICC detention center pending his trial on the crimes of humanity case filed by families and relatives of victims of the Duterte administration’s brutal drug campaign.
In her letter to Bersamin, Marcos said the committee report she made public last week were “nonetheless preliminary” even if they were “sufficiently backed by factual and legal bases.”
“The Committee is keen to provide the executive officials an opportunity to clarify issues and questions that surfaced last hearing. There are likewise new pieces of information that the Committee has received and in the interest of fairness and transparency, the Committee would like to give executive officials a chance to explain their side relative to these new pieces of information,” she said.
She also said Bersamin cannot claim that the subject matter of the hearing is covered by the sub judice rule, citing the cases of Reghis Romero II et al vs. Senator Estrada and other Senate committees and the Standard Chartered Bank et al vs. Senate Committee on Banks, among others.
She added that the SC has previously ruled that ongoing judicial proceedings “do not preclude congressional hearings in aid of legislation.”
“The power of legislative inquiry is an essential component of legislative power. The same cannot be made subordinate to a criminal or an administrative investigation or to special civil actions pending before the Supreme Court,” she stressed.
Marcos assured Malacañang thaat the committee will adhere to the executive privilege doctrine, but said that “it would be wise for the Executive branch to bear in mind the ruling of the Supreme Court in Senate vs. Ermita, where it was emphasized that executive officials are not exempt from the duty to disclose information by mere fact of being executive officials and that the extraordinary character of the exemptions indicates that the presumption inclines heavily against executive secrecy and in favor of disclosure.”
Marcos said she will proceed with the hearing even if invited Cabinet officials do not show up.
‘ENOUGH’
Palace communications undersecretary Claire Castro said Cabinet has already said enough about Duterte’s arrest even as she reiterated that Malacañang is not hiding anything from the public with regards its decision to apprehend and turnover the former president to the ICC.
Castro said the Cabinet who had attended the first hearing have already answered all questions that are not covered by executive privilege.
“Hindi po natin masasabi na hindi naman po tinugunan ang mga katanungan kung ito po ay in aid of legislation. So, malamang po ay sapat na po ang mga nasabi ng ating mga Cabinet officials para makagawa na po siya ng kanyang batas patungkol po dito (We cannot say that their questions in aid of legislation were not answered. What the Cabinet members have said are probably already enough so she can come up with a proposed law),” she said.
Castro reiterated that Malacañang is not hiding anything in connection with the arrest and turnover of Duterte to ICC.
“Wala naman pong itinago, dahil sapat na po iyong napakahabang oras noong unang hearing para po masabi ang dapat na masabi po ng ating mga Cabinet officials patungkol po doon sa pag-surrender kay dating pangulong Duterte sa ICC (We’re not hiding anything. The long time allotted during the first hearing is already enough for the Cabinet officials to say what they need to say about the surrender of former president Duterte to ICC),” she said.
‘BLESSING IN DISGUISE’
Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for her renewed relationship with her father, saying his detention in The Hague in the Netherlands have given the two of them a chance to reconcile.
“This really is ironic, but I have to thank Bongbong Marcos because there was forgiveness between me and (former president Duterte) for all that has happened in our lives,” she told reporters.
The former president is detained in The Hague while waiting for his trial on the crimes against humanity case filed by relatives of the victims of his brutal drug campaign.
“We have that relationship now – a father-daughter relationship since we cannot discuss anything legal anymore because it is understood inside that only the lawyers can discuss legal matters with the former president so w e only discuss family,” said the vice president, who was able to visit her father at the ICC detention center along with his common-law wife Honeylet Avanceña and their daughter Veronica or “Kitty.”
The younger Duterte said her conversations with her father have been the longest they’ve ever had because he has always been too busy with his job as former Davao City mayor and later, president.
“This has been one of the longest meetings I have had with former president. Growing up, he was always busy with work, he was always busy with the country. Now I have this everyday with him, talking about life, talking about family. For that, I feel I am blessed,” she said.
“Because at this point, he’s already 80, he’s already retired. But going back as mayor, baka ma-busy na naman siya sa kanyang trabaho so nabigyan kami ng ganitong time na makapag-usap as father-daughter (maybe he’ll be busy again with his work so we were given time to talk as father-daughter). Sad lang (It’s just sad) that it has to happen inside the detention. There is a good side. But, yes, thank you (to the president),” she said.
The vice president, who is facing an impeachment trial, also considers it a blessing that she and her half-sister Kitty have become close in the face of the political and legal challenges that their family is facing.
“I’m blessed because I gained a sister with what happened to me after the attacks, the confidential fund attacks, the impeachment,” she said with Kitty standing beside her. “We have a relationship now. I have a relationship now, I have a relationship with Kitty. And I’m happy now.”
Sara even said in jest that she now has a younger sister to scold, something she never had growing up.
“Sabi ko nga sa kaniya, I’m happy that I have a sister kasi mayroon akong pagagalitan (I told her I’m happy because I now have a sister to scold),” she said. “Growing-up, wala akong ganoon, but mayroon ako niyan ngayon na pinagagalitan na kapatid (Growing up, I never had that but now I have a yoiunger sister to scold).”
Sara has two other brothers, Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte and Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte. The three of them are children of the former president with his ex-wife Elizabeth Zimmerman.
Duterte’s lead counsel Nicholas Kaufman has said the defense team plans to seek the interim release of the former president before the confirmation of charges hearing that is set on September 23 this year.
The vice president, who is forming her father’s legal team, said she is just waiting for one more document “and then my job here is done.”
“Hopefully before I leave, that team is already complete, but at the moment, no, it’s not complete,” she said, without revealing which documents she was referring to. – With Jocelyn Montemayor and Wendell Vigilia
