Former president Rodrigo Duterte (left), Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Facebook)

The cancellation of the scheduled quad-committee (quad-comm) hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 13 wasn't because House members cowered over former president Rodrigo Duterte's reported intention to attend the proceedings.

Quad-comm co-chairmen Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers and Santa Rosa City lone district Rep. Dan Fernandez gave this clarification in a press conference Tuesday, Nov. 12, even as they slammed the vloggers and online content creators who had been spreading the notion that they were "afraid" to face Duterte. 

Barbers said that the quad-comm never received an official letter or notice from the Duterte camp that the ex-president was going to attend the hearing before it was cancelled. 

"Wala ho kaming natatanggap hanggang sa ngayon. Ang nakikita lang namin yung mga vloggers. Hindi ho namin pinakikinggan mga vloggers," said Barbers, overall chairman of the quad-comm. 

(Up to now, we haven't received any. What we see are what the vloggers are saying. We don't listen to vloggers.)

"So wala pong naduduwag dito. Ganito po para malinaw: Sa [Nov.] 21 po mayroon kaming hearing. Yan ho, punta ho tayo dito. Pagtapos ng 21, let us know kung kelan kayo pupwede because we will schedule another quad-comm hearing on the date convenient for you, on the date na gusto ninyo," he said.

(So nobody is cowering here. Let's just do this for clarity: On Nov. 21 we will have a hearing. Let's attend this one. After the 21st, let us know when you are available to attend because we will schedule another quad-comm hearing on the date convenient for you, on the date tha you prefer.)

Fernandez underscored that the reports of Duterte’s planned appearance before the special four-way panel mostly came from vloggers. 

"Kasi pag social media you can always deny it. Pwede kang hindi pumunta tapos sasabihin eh hindi naman formal yan. But of course kapag ginawa po nating official ang lahat, then resibo po yan," said the Laguna solon.

(You can always deny it if it came from social media. You can skip the hearing and say that nothing was formally said. But of course, if we go through the official channel, then that's a receipt of your actions.)

"So I hope that prior to Nov. 21 hearing, somebody or the lawyer of the former president will write the committee for his attendance," he added.

"Pag yung sa social media tayo nagsagutan, I think it will not be proper at maliligaw po tayo Especially yan nagpo-pronounce sila that they will be attending. And it's not even coming from the President," Fernandez stressed.

(I think it will not be proper and we will be lost if we go back and forth on social media. Especially now that they pronounced that they will be attending. And it's not even coming from the President.)

When told that Duterte’s former chief legal counsel, lawyer Salvador Panelo was among those who have confirmed the former leader's attending to the Wednesday hearing, Barbers said: "Di naman si Atty. Panelo yung inimbitahan namin eh. It was the former President ang aming inimbitahan."

(We didn't invite Atty. Panelo. it was the former president whom we invited.)

The quad-comm hearings are looking into Duterte’s hand in his administration’s aggressive anti-drug campaign, which allegedly claimed over 30,000 lives.

Why was the quad-comm hearing cancelled?

Barbers said the Nov. 13 hearing of the quad-comm--supposed to be the mega-panel's 11th hearing--was officially cancelled at around 6:30 p.m. on Monday. 

The reason? He said the co-chairmen decided to carry out vetting on the numerous witnesses first before moving forward with the marathon hearings.

"Hindi ho madali magpresenta ng witnesses (The presentation of witnesses is not an easy task)," Barber said. He noted that witnesses sometimes need to undergo psychiatric tests and polygraph tests just to ensure that they are fit to give a testimony. 

"At 6:30 p.m. (Monday), the quad-comm chairs had already informed the secretariat to send out notices to all our members, and to all our invited guests resource persons na hindi po natin matutuloy yung ating hearing ngayong Wednesday (that the Wednesday hearing won't push through). At all these notices via email, via digital and viber notices, pinadala na po yan kahapon pa lang (those were already sent yesterday)," he said.

"Nagulat lang kami ngayon na mayroon palang gustong um-attend (We were surprised to learn today that somebody wants to attend)," Barbers said, referring to the 79-year-old Duterte.

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Duterte no-showed 2 hearings

It should be noted that Duterte--through letters sent by his supposed official counsel lawyer Martin Delgra III--had begged off from attending not one, but two previous quad-comm hearings.

The mega-panel first sought Duterte’s attendance to a Oct. 22 hearing, but Delgra wrote to Barbers that his client "wasn't feeling well" and "needed rest". However, the former leader promised to attend a future hearing "after Nov. 1".

Then, Duterte also no-showed the subsequent Nov. 7 hearing of the quad-comm, with Delgra telling Barbers that the investigation had questionable integrity as per the ex-president.

Between these two quad-comm hearings, a rather energetic and enthusiastic Duterte personality appeared before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to answer questions on the drug war.