The House Quad Committee is open to issuing a show-cause order and subpoena to former President Rodrigo Duterte should he skip its subsequent hearings on his administration's drug war.

Duterte did not attend Tuesday’s hearing, citing illness, according to a letter from his legal counsel, Martin Delgra III. However, Delgra assured the panel that Duterte plans to participate in the investigation and will appear before the committee in November.

In an interview, Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., a co-chair of the panel, stated that the committee would request a medical certificate if Duterte repeats his excuse for not attending the next hearing.

“If there is no medical certificate, and we feel that we’re just being put around or whatever it might be, then the first thing we can do is to issue a show cause order for him to attend,” Abante said. “And later on, perhaps we could be able to issue a subpoena."

Abang Lingkod Rep. Stephen Paduano, another panel co-chair, echoed this proposal during the hearing, stressing the need for compliance with committee rules.

Under House rules, a witness may defer their appearance if supported by a medical or other certification, but no witness may be granted more than two postponements without justifiable cause.

Dissent in the ranks

Despite these calls, quad comm chair Ace Barbers disagreed with the idea of requiring a medical certificate, arguing that Duterte should be extended "due courtesy" as a former president. Barbers denied claims of special treatment, stating that the letter explaining Duterte's absence was sufficient.

"We do not give him special treatment. I do agree with the chair of the committee on human rights that we shall stick with the rules of the House but in this particular case, in deference to him being the former president, I would like to ask for your understanding to extend a little bit of courtesy due to him,” Barbers said.

However, Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas criticized Duterte’s absence, calling it a “clear manifestation of his disregard for truth, justice, and accountability.”

The quad comm has been investigating the Duterte administration's anti-drug campaign and had formally invited the former president to testify after he was repeatedly implicated in extrajudicial killings (EJKs). This includes the murder of three Chinese drug lords at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in August 2016.

Duterte’s former aide, retired police colonel Royina Garma, claimed that the former president ordered police to adopt the "Davao model," in which drug suspects were killed in exchange for rewards of up to P1 million.

These claims aligned with earlier testimony from Police Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido, who confirmed kill orders, quotas, and payouts for killing drug suspects.

Duterte previously acknowledged the existence of EJKs but denied that they were state-sponsored.

“The burden of proof is now on him. For him to be able to explain not the war on drugs [because] we are supporting it, but why is it that more than 20,000 were killed in that war on drugs?” Abante remarked.

While the government’s data cites over 7,000 deaths during Duterte’s drug war, human rights lawyer Chel Diokno, in a previous hearing, pointed to a Supreme Court resolution that reported 20,322 deaths between July 2016 and November 2017.

Local and international human rights organizations estimate that the death toll exceeded 30,000, with low-income families and communities most affected.