Vice President Sara Duterte will not be attending the House good government hearing on Nov. 20 because lawmakers didn’t ask her questions the first time she was there.
Vice President Sara Duterte speaks to the media during an interview at the Office of the Vice President in Mandaluyong City office on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (OVP screenshot)
Instead, she will send a letter and an affidavit under oath, explaining about the confidential funds her office previously received.
“Hindi ako a-attend sa hearings nila na susunod. Kasi nandun na ako, pumunta na ako, tapos wala naman sila ginawa sa akin. Pinaupo lang nila ako (I will not attend in the next hearing. Because I was already there, they didn’t ask me anything. They just let me sat there),” she said in an interview on Friday, Nov. 15, in Mandaluyong City.
Duterte was referring to the Sept. 18 hearing of the House good government where she made a surprise appearance and refused to take an oath to answer questions about the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) alleged misuse of public funds.
Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua, however, responded that the lawmakers didn’t ask the Vice President questions because she refused to take an oath.
Any answers she would’ve given during the inquiry would have been for nothing then, the lawmaker added.
The Vice President said she plans to send a letter “to say why,” as well as submit an affidavit “about the confidential funds.”
“Under oath naman ‘yung affidavit na ‘yan (That affidavit is under oath). And for all the others we plan to tell them kung ano iyong pwede nila gawing sa akin (what they can do to me),” she added.
Even the OVP’s executives refused to appear before the House panel, which prompted lawmakers to cite four of them in contempt for repeatedly skipping the House hearing.
Duterte was served a formal invitation to the Nov. 20 hearing when she attended the House quad committee hearing about her father’s, former president Rodrigo Duterte, war on drugs campaign.
But she maintained the questions she and other OVP officials raised in their position paper about the House panel’s jurisdiction and agenda.
“As a lawyer, hindi mo na talaga maintindihan kung ano ang rules na ginagamit sa mga hearings (you really cannot understand what rules they are using in the hearings),” she said, once claiming that the House committee makes up rules as they go.
“And they use inquiry and investigation interchangeably. So, hindi mo alam (you don’t know) if it is an inquiry, you’re a resource person. If it’s an investigation, you’re a witness or an accused,” she stressed.