Chiz orders review of subpoena for two officials in Duterte probe

Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero has forwarded the subpoenas requested by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to the Senate legal department for review.

These subpoenas are to be issued against a Philippine Air Force official and a prosecutor invited to the probe into the arrest and detention of former President Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

During the Kapihan sa Senado on Thursday, Escudero revealed that he signed the subpoena requested by Senator Imee Marcos, committee chair, against Lt. Gen. Arthur Cordura of the PAF and Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon of the National Prosecution Service.

“‘Yong pangatlong sulat na sa akin lang in-address noong nakaraang Lunes, in-invoke nila ‘yong executive privilege na kaugnay ng pag-aattend ng hearing. Ito ‘yong sulat na ‘yon bagaman nung panahon na ‘yon napirmahan ko na ‘yong subpoena doon sa dalawang nirerequest ni Sen. Imee (The third letter, which was addressed to me alone last Monday, they invoked executive privilege regarding attendance at the hearing. This is that letter, even though at that time, I had already signed the subpoena for the two individuals requested by Senator Imee),” Escudero said.

He said the subpoenas were sent to the Senate's legal department to assess how invoking executive privilege could impact the validity or enforcement of the investigation.

“So imbes sa OSAA (Office of Senate Sergeant-at-Arms) namin pinadala o pinadala ng Secretary General, pinadala ‘yung aking subpoena sa legal ng Senado para pag-aralan 'yung epekto nung pag-invoke ng executive privilege kaugnay sa mga subpoena na napirmahan ko (Instead of referring it to the OSAA, the subpoenas were referred to the legal department of the Senate to study the effect of invoking executive privilege in relation to the subpoenas that I signed),” he said.

Escudero pointed out that two Supreme Court decisions upheld the Executive Department's authority to invoke executive privilege, not just in responding to specific questions, but also regarding their attendance at congressional investigations.

“Ang huling gusto kong mangyari sa gitna at sa kabila ng napakarami nang kaguluhan sa ating bansa ay dagdagan pa ito sa pamamagitan ng isang constitutional crisis kaugnay ng subpoena sa kabilang banda at invocation ng executive privilege sa isang bandan (The last thing that I want to happen amid the chaos in our country is to add fuel to the fire by staging a constitutional crisis through the subpoena that we will issue and the invocation of executive privilege on the other end),” he said.

On Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Senator Imee Marcos, elder sister of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., resumed the investigation on Duterte’s ICC arrest on March 11.

No Cabinet officials attended the hearing, as Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin had previously notified the Senate in a letter to Senator Marcos.

Marcos was digging into the legal basis of an arrest warrant issued by the ICC.