House has ‘no expectations’ on Sara Duterte attendance in impeachment hearings

House Committee on Public Accounts Chair Terry Ridon said on Saturday that the House has no expectations regarding Vice President Sara Duterte’s attendance at the upcoming impeachment proceedings on April 14.

“We [the House of Representatives] have no expectations. The Vice President is free to appear and present evidence in all the hearings,” he said in Filipino.

Ridon, however, pointed out that if the Vice President attends the House Committee on Justice hearings and presents her evidence, their petition before the Supreme Court of the Philippines would be undermined.

“Because it is jurisdictional—their question before the Supreme Court is that the House Committee on Justice allegedly has no jurisdiction to proceed,” he said.

“So if she appears there, then of course that is basically admitting to the jurisdiction of the committee over her and other impeachable officials, in the manner that we have proceeded from the beginning up until this moment,” Ridon added.

The hearing is expected to proceed without any hindrance on April 14, Ridon said during the recent Saturday News Forum in Quezon City.

He also announced that the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) will be questioned during the hearing to verify whether Mary Grace Piatos and other supposed recipients of confidential funds are real individuals.