Senator Richard Gordon on Thursday, October 7, said President Duterte’s incessant and vicious attacks on him won’t distract him from pursuing the truth as the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee pursues its investigation into the anomalies in the government’s procurement of billions worth of COVID-19 pandemic supplies.
Gordon said he can only interpret the President’s actions as being afraid that the Senate’s probe will reach the doors of his official residence “once we release our partial interim report.”
“Last night, what we saw is a wild man threatening those who seek the truth behind the massive corruption plaguing his administration. He desperately tries to hide his fear because our people are now realizing how they have been fooled all these years,” Gordon said in a statement referring to Duterte’s latest pre-taped public rants.
“I cannot, however, allow you to intimidate me or anyone of us. When you threaten to harm any member of the Senate in our performance of our sworn duties, you attack and undermine the Senate as an institution mandated to check your excesses and abuses. Unlike you, we owe our loyalty to the Filipino people who trust us,” he further said.
In his latest rant, the President threatened to imprison any member of the Senate if his Cabinet members or any worker from the Executive department would be disrespected or cited for contempt by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee amid the ongoing probe into the government’s controversial deal with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation.
Gordon stressed “no amount of tantrums and threats will ever distract us from pursuing our investigation on who profited from the taxpayers’ money meant to provide ayuda for our people, buy our vaccines, build more hospitals, save our jobs, and bail us out of recession.”
He said that instead of defending and protecting his men who brandish their luxurious lifestyles, Duterte should focus on resolving the impact of the pandemic and corruption to the people.
“Mr. Duterte, it is not a fight between us. Why are you so fixated on me? If you are bothered with your waning popularity, you should look around and maybe, you might find the answers,” he said.
“Even as you go low, I will never stoop down to your level. It is when you intimidate us and show your own weakness that I am more emboldened to expose your lies and to bring back the money that rightfully belongs to the Filipino people,” Gordon added.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros echoed Gordon’s statement and said that the President, being a lawyer, should know that he does not have the power to jail senators for doing their constitutional duties.
“His orders are flatly illegal and unconstitutional,” Hontiveros said when sought to comment.
“Last time I checked, we are in a democracy in which the executive and the legislature are co-equal branches of government. The Senate has no obligation to stop its investigations just because the president feels offended. He is President Duterte, not King Duterte,” she pointed out.
“The question we should all ask is this: Why is the president willing to issue illegal orders and drag the country into a constitutional crisis, just to protect a favored company and a few public officials?” she added.