MANILA – The House of Representatives’ quad committee that was supposed to be attended by former President Rodrigo Duterte has been moved to a later date.
In a letter to the former President, quadcomc co-chair Robert “Ace” Barbers stated that the hearing originally scheduled for today will be rescheduled to 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 21.
“Please be informed that the 11th Joint Public Hearing, originally scheduled on Wednesday, 13 November 2024, has been moved to Thursday, 21 November 2024, at 9:30 a.m. at the People’s Center Building, House of Representatives, Quezon City,” Barbers said.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused on your schedule but rest assured that we will keep you informed of any further developments. Thank you for understanding,” he added.
Barbers said in a press conference on Tuesday noon that the postponement was to give the committee more time to vet the testimony of the witnesses.
“We discussed the possibility of postponement last week because we need some time to vet affidavits from resource persons. The guests were informed as early as Monday,” Barbers said.
Meanwhile, House Quadcomm co-chair Dan Fernandez accused the Duterte camp of intentionally saying that they will attend the probe after learning of the cancellation to make it appear that it was the lawmakers who backed down.
“Sinadya ‘yun. ‘Yun ang style nila to make it appear na kami ang umatras,” Fernandez said.
Barbers, Quadcomm lead committee chair and Surigao del Norte representative, previously invited Duterte to attend the inquiry “to provide valuable insights and shed light on the issues under discussion particularly on extrajudicial killings.”
The committee had invited Duterte to comment on testimonies linking him to the August 2016 murders inside the Davao prison of three high-profile Chinese drug lords and the alleged existence of an EJK reward system that paid up to PHP1 million for every high-profile drug suspect assassinated./PN
