Palace confirms officials to attend next Senate probe on Duterte arrest

Malacañang on Monday confirmed that executive officials would attend the next Senate hearing on the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte last month.

''Sa ngayon po ay according po sa office po ni ES as we speak, hindi pa po ako nabibigyan ng anumang detail kung nakatanggap na po sila ng invitation. Dapat sa invitation nakalagay po sana kung sino iyong mga tao na iimbitahan. Pero nagbigay na po ng listahan ang Office of the Executive Secretary iyong maaaring dumalo po sa nasabing hearing,'' Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro said at a press briefing.

(According to the Office of the Executive Secretary, as we speak, I am not yet given any detail if they already received an invitation. It should be indicated in the invitation who are those invited. But the OES already provided a list of who will attend the hearing.)

She said the following officials may attend the Senate hearing: 

• Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin ''Boying'' Remulla; 
• Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon; 
• Chief State Counsel Dennis Arvin Chan; 
• Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo; 
• Philippines Center on Transnational Crime executive director Anthony Alcantara; 
• Philippine National Police chief General Rommel Francisco Marbil; 
• PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Major General Nicolas Torre III; 
• Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac; 
• special envoy Markus Lacanilao; 
• Atty. RJ Bernal; and 
• Atty. Ferdinand Loji Santiago.

Castro said the Marcos administration is respecting the call of the Senate for executive officials to attend the Senate investigation over the matter. She made the response when asked what made the Palace reconsider its stance as regards attending the Senate investigation.

''Kung nagkausap man po sila ni Senate President Chiz Escudero, binigyan din po natin ng pagrespeto ang kanyang hiling kaya... provided of course na ito'y di naman tatalakay sa executive privilege na mga issues,'' Castro responded.

(If they had a discussion with Senate President Chiz Escudero, we also respect his request, provided that those issues under 'executive privilege' won't be tackled.)

Earlier, Senate President Francis ''Chiz'' Escudero said the officials invited to the probe would attend the hearing on April 10. He said there is no need for a subpoena for the invited resource persons to attend the hearing.

However, they may invoke their executive privilege when answering the questions in the hearing, according to Escudero.

To recall, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin had invoked executive privilege, not only in answering certain questions, but also in the attendance of Cabinet officials to congressional investigations as regards the arrest.

Duterte was arrested on March 11 and brought to the International Criminal Court, with the plane carrying him to the Netherlands arriving the next day.

He is detained in The Hague for charges of crimes against humanity for the extrajudicial killings during his administration's war on drugs.

Tell the truth

Meanwhile, Senator Imee Marcos urged the government officials to tell the “‘truth” in the continuation of the Senate investigation into the arrest of the former president.

“Binibigyan natin sila ng ikatlong pagkakataong magpaliwanag sa Abril 10, wag naman sanang mauwi sa pagkukubli o pakitang tao lamang. MAGPAKATOTOO NA, PLEASE LANG!” Marcos said. 

(We are giving them a third chance to explain on April 10, and we hope it won't turn into mere excuses or pretenses. Please be truthful!)

“Mabuti at nagdalawang-isip ang administrasyon, pero sana hudyat na ang kanilang anunsyo ng pagnanais ibunyag ang katotohanan, na sa wakas, maliwanagan ang sambayanan patungkol sa totoong mga pangyayari,” she stated. 

(It's good that the administration reconsidered its decision, hopefully the announcement would prompt them to reveal the truth and allow the public to finally understand what happened.)

Last April 3, Marcos slammed the absence of Cabinet officials in the second Senate committee hearing into the arrest of Duterte and floated the suspicion of a “cover up” in the events that transpired during the operations against the former president.

“Hidden truths are unspoken lies. Ang katotohonang tinatago ay kasinunggalingan din. At mukhang ganu'n ang nangyayari ngayon sa pagtatago ng katotohan gamit ang executive privilege at subjudice, nagmimustulan tuloy may cover up sa mga nangyayari," she said during the hearing. 

The absence of the executive officials also prompted Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, a known Duterte ally, to subpoena them.

Imee, sister of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., had said that EO 464 is not a free pass for Cabinet officials wanting to dodge a Senate inquiry.

She earlier released preliminary findings of the congressional inquiry, and stated that the arrest of Duterte on March 11, on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), violated the rights of the former president.—AOL, GMA Integrated News