Members of the Executive department will be present in the next hearing of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations into the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero said Sunday.

Escudero explained that the commitment from the Executive branch came after he facilitated communication between the two branches of government to avoid further issues, such as a constitutional crisis.

“I decided to serve as a bridge between the Executive Department and the Senate… The hearing will be moved to April 10, where the officials invited by Senator Imee [Marcos] will attend,” he said in a radio interview.

His remarks came after Cabinet officials opted to skip last week’s Senate panel’s hearing, despite being invited into the proceedings.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla, Interior Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla, Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr., Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, and National Security Council Director General Eduardo Año were among those absent from the proceedings.

Other officials who skipped the hearing included Philippine Center on Transnational Crime Executive Director Anthony Alcantara, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Rommel Marbil, and PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Director Nicolas Torre III.

The only government representatives present were lawyers RJ Bernal, and Ferdino Logie Santiago, both from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Alexis Medina, a legal scholar, also attended the hearing.

Their decision to snub the hearing, presided by its chair, Senator Marcos, prompted key allies of Duterte in the upper chamber, such as Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, to move for the subpoena of certain officials to compel them to attend the hearing.

Dela Rosa, who is a co-accused of Duterte in his crimes against humanity charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC), requested the issuance of subpoena for Department of Justice Prosecutor General Anthony Fadullon, and Philippine Air Force Commanding General Arthur Cordura.

Senator Marcos, however, said that the request is pending with the Senate’s legal office.

Prior to the hearing, Escudero confirmed receiving a letter from Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin about their decision not to allow further participation of Cabinet officials in the hearing.

Escudero also confirmed that he received a subpoena request from Senator Marcos for Fadullon and Cordura, which he signed but stressed that it was transmitted to the chamber’s legal department for review.

He noted that while the executive privilege can be invoked to skip congressional proceedings, it can be lead to a more serious problem such as Constitutional crisis, hence, the subpoena for the said officials were still pending.

‘No subpoena needed’

According to Escudero, Cabinet officials will attend the Senate proceedings without the issuance of subpoena, a move he believes would prevent a constitutional crisis.

“I already said that the hearing should not be the root of further conflicts, fights, and quarrels. Didn’t I also say that, as much as possible, it should be a source of unity, healing, and deeper understanding?” he said.

“And that can only be achieved if the questions are answered without the need for a clash between executive privilege on one side and the use of subpoena powers by the Senate on the other,” he said.

Asked what he meant by that, the Senate chief said that the Senate would no longer issue subpoena to compel government officials to attend the hearing.

He, however, clarified that executive officials are allowed to invoke executive privilege depending on the nature of the questions that would be asked during the hearing.

Escudero noted that one of the prominent officials that would be attending the next hearing is Torre, who led the arrest of the former president.

“Yes, I just don’t know who exactly. I don’t have specifics on who, but that’s a good middle ground. However, the specific request that cannot be missed is General Torre,” he said when asked whether it was Cabinet officials that was made to commit to attend the hearing.

““So I expect that there will be a lively exchange of views, questions, and answers, as the hearing of Senator Imee continues,” he added.

During the first hearing of the Senate panel’s into Duterte’s arrest, Torre was grilled by lawmakers, particularly Senator Marcos, over the manner Duterte was arrested on 11 March.

Last week, she also rebuked Torre for denying the rights of the former president when the latter demanded for the presence of her daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, whom he also requested to be his legal counsel.

During the hearing, Senator Marcos also accused the government of her brother of contradicting itself, citing previous pronouncements of both President Marcos and his official about not cooperating with the ICC.

“As early as May, there was already a briefer about President Duterte’s arrest. It is not true to say that the Philippine government had nothing to do with this,” she said.

Senator Marcos claimed that the Bureau of Immigrations has records of ICC officials who entered the country last year in relation to its investigation into Duterte’s crimes against humanity charges.

She further claimed that the ICC prosecutor itself cited in the arrest order of Duterte several documents such as the drug watchlist, financial and bank records, and forensic evidence from the PNP, and other departments.

“It is difficult to obtain this kind of evidence. Even high-ranking officials like senators are having difficulties in accessing these files. We could not get anything,” she said.

“So how did the ICC prosecutor obtain it, when our administration has repeatedly declared that it ‘will not lift a finger to help the ICC’? Yet, verbatim, everything they requested was recorded in the agenda, and that same information ended up as evidence in the warrant of arrest,” she added.