MANILA – Malacañang maintained that Cabinet members have already provided sufficient answers to the committee of Sen. Imee Marcos with regards to the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to Undersecretary Claire Castro of the Presidential Communications Office, Cabinet members have answered all the questions except for those matters protected by executive privilege.
“Sapat na ‘yung naibigay nilang impormasyon. Sumagot naman ‘yung mga resource persons. Ang hindi lang nila maibigay sa publiko ay ‘yung talagang covered ng executive privilege,” Castro said in an interview with DZBB AM radio on Monday.
Castro, however, confirmed that some government officials will be attending the next hearing of the Senate probe on the ICC arrest of Duterte scheduled for Thursday, April 10.
Among those who may attend the hearing are Justice Secretary Remulla, Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon, Chief State Counsel Dennis Chan, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo, Philippine National Police chief Rommel Marbil, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Nicolas Torre, among others.
On Sunday, Senate President Francis Escudero said officials invited to the Senate probe into the arrest of Duterte will be present in the next hearing after it was moved from its original schedule of Tuesday, April 8.
“Imo-move ang hearing sa April 10 kung saan dadalo ang mga opisyal na inimbitahan ni Senator Imee. Hindi ko lang alam kung sino specifically, pero hindi na sila hindi dadalo,” Escudero said.
Escudero added that there is no need for a subpoena for the invited resource persons to attend the hearing, but they may invoke their executive privilege when answering the questions in the hearing.
Duterte was arrested on March 11 and surrendered to the International Criminal Court, with the plane carrying him to The Hague in the Netherlands arriving the next day.
The former President is currently detained in The Hague’s facility for charges of crimes against humanity for the extrajudicial killings during his administration’s war on drugs./PN
