MANILA, Philippines — With or without the attendance of Cabinet members, Sen. Imee Marcos is determined to proceed today with her second public hearing on the legality of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and transfer to the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
The senator said she was dissatisfied with the information she gathered from the first inquiry last March 20, hence today’s continuation.
While her office has yet to disclose the lineup of resource persons for the second hearing, Senator Marcos earlier told The STAR that she wanted to invite legal experts, possibly retired justices.
After Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said Cabinet officials would not attend today’s hearing, the senator asked the Palace in an April 1 letter for a reconsideration.
“The undersigned hopes that you reconsider your decision and allow the invited Cabinet members to attend the scheduled hearing… Regrettably, the undersigned finds none of the reasons you adduced in the letter as sufficient justification for the refusal of executive officials to attend the hearing,” she said.
The elder sister of President Marcos has beeny vocal in her support for Duterte. She has withdrawn from the administration’s Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial slate.
Bersamin said Cabinet secretaries and other pertinent officials had already provided information during the March 20 hearing. He added that matters not covered by executive privilege had already been discussed.
The senator said the reasons provided by Malacañang to decline the Senate invitation are insufficient as she pointed out that the presence of government officials at the hearing is essential to clarify previously raised issues and answer questions from the last hearing.
“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,” the senator noted.
She also asserted that there are Supreme Court decisions that support the Senate’s power to conduct investigations as part of their responsibilities, regardless of ongoing cases.
“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,” the senator added.
Not hiding anything
In response to Senator Marcos, Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro maintained that Cabinet officials have provided enough facts to the Senate panel, noting that the senator had even released her preliminary findings on the matter.
“Nothing was hidden, because the long hours of the first hearing were enough to say what our Cabinet officials have to say with regard to the surrendering of former president Duterte to the ICC,” the Palace press officer said in a briefing.
“We cannot claim that the questions in aid of legislation were not answered. Probably, the things that our Cabinet officials said are enough to come up with a law related to this (issue),” she added.
Asked if the Palace would reconsider its decision to decline the Senate panel’s invitation, Castro replied: “Let us see what will happen. If she (Imee) seeks a reconsideration, ES Bersamin has not responded to it.” – Alexis Romero