President Duterte has come up with a counter of sorts to the Senate’s continued investigation of government agencies for allegations of corruption--holding his "Talk to the People" public briefings twice a week.
This was bared by Duterte in his pre-recorded public briefing, which was aired on Wednesday morning, Sept. 8.
"As far as can be easily...we will report to you twice a week. And we will account every money na ginagastos ng gobyerno para sa taumbayan (that government spent for the public). Itong program na (Tnis program called) Talk to the People will be for twice a week para you will be updated (so that you will be updated)," he said.
The Duterte-led public briefings, which usually gets aired at past 10 p.m. and last for two hours, used to be carried out just once a week.
While there have been instances of two Talk to the People briefings in a single week, this time, Duterte said it will officially be held twice a week. Various agency heads attend these briefings to give presentations and answer questions from the President.
He said that such briefings give Filipinos "assurance that the money is being spent in accordance with the interest of the people."
The Senate has been conducting various hearings or public inquiries on alleged irregularities on the use of public funds amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Perhaps the main most discussed of these is the government's supposed overpriced procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) in 2020.
"Ano lang yan, mag-iingay lang yan pag election na (They only create noise when it's election season) because they want exposure but at the expense sa amin (at our expense). Kaming nagtatrabaho dito na walang mga privilege-privilege speech, di naman kami umiimik (Those of us who work here that dont have any privilege speeches, we haven't said anything)," Duterte said.
"But we cannot also keep our silence. May mga pamilya kami, mga anak (We have our families, our children)," he underscored.
A lawmaker from Congress (House of the Representatives, Senate) is safe from slander if the subject statements or claims were uttered in a privilege speech.
"Ang aming lang naman is (As far as we're concerned), when we come here to answer them, we answer them with the truth. Yan lang. Sabi ko wala kaming obligasyon na magsinungaling. Sabihin lang namin yung totoo (That's it. We have no obligation to tell a lie. We just say the truth)," Duterte said.