Rody ready, but Quadcomm is not

Contrary to reports, the House Quad Committee denied receiving confirmation from the camp of former president Rodrigo Duterte that he was attending the next hearing into his notorious war on drugs.

The mega-panel was initially scheduled to hold its 11th probe today, Wednesday. However, after careful study, the committee decided to move it to Thursday, 21 November, citing a lack of time to vet a set of new witnesses.

In a briefing on Tuesday, panel chairperson Ace Barbers said a notice of cancellation was sent out Monday to the invited resource persons, including Duterte’s legal counsel, Martin Delgra III.

“We wrote to them, inviting them, then we sent them a notice of cancellation via email, viber, text and all other forms of communication. We were waiting for a letter [from Duterte’s camp but] we received nothing,” Barbers told reporters.

“In fact, we only found out that he was coming because there were a lot of [reports] circulating on social media, but we had already canceled,” he said.

Reports said the 79-year-old Duterte flew from Davao City to Manila to face his critics at the hearing.

Duterte repeatedly skipped the previous congressional hearings citing sickness and doubts about the committee’s intentions, calling it a “ploy aimed at indicting him for crimes he did not commit.”

But the Quadcomm continued to invite him, asserting his need to face the grave allegations leveled against him.

Panel co-chairs and other House leaders even offered to cover Duterte’s and his entourage’s expenses from airfare to accommodations after the former president cited a lack of finances to attend the investigation.

According to Barbers, Duterte’s camp did not formally confirm his appearance on Wednesday, and reports on social media, especially by bloggers, saying he would attend were not valid.

“[The hearing was already] canceled and then suddenly [he] was going. That’s not the process,” Barbers said.

“There is a three-day ruling that is being followed by the committee. So we need to be informed officially, not on social media. Everything [needs] to be official [because] it’s a receipt,” Quadcomm co-chair Dan Fernandez said.

Meanwhile, Zambales Rep. Jefferson Khonghun, a staunch critic of Duterte’s, said this was another “budol” or scheme employed by the former president.

“In other words, what they are doing is really propaganda, especially what they say about attending the Quadcomm hearing. Filipinos are really confused by their statements,” Khonghun said.

Nevertheless, the lawmakers are keen for Duterte to finally face them on 21 November to address the allegations and complaints about his anti-drug campaign.

Duterte, who admitted under oath in an earlier Senate appearance that he alone was responsible for the massive deaths during his war on drugs, also faces intense scrutiny for reported human rights abuses.

Duterte had explicitly said he encouraged the police to provoke drug suspects into fighting back so they could be killed.

The government recorded more than 7,000 deaths during Duterte’s drug war. Local and international human rights organizations, however, estimated the death toll exceeded 30,000.