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'Trabaho lang': House 'quad-committee' wasn't created to attack VP Sara, Digong
'Trabaho lang': House 'quad-committee' wasn't created to attack VP Sara, Digong
At A Glance
- The "quad-committee" in the House of Representatives wasn't formed for the purpose of assailing Vice President Sara Duterte or the previous Duterte administration.
Former president Rodrigo Duterte (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (Malacañang photo, Facebook)
The "quad-committee" in the House of Representatives wasn't formed for the purpose of assailing Vice President Sara Duterte or the previous Duterte administration.
Ranking congressmen made this clarification in a press conference Wednesday, Aug. 7, wherein they maintained that they're just out to do their jobs.
"Hindi ito pulitika, hindi ito related sa political persecution. Ginagagawa lang po namin ang trabaho namin nang sa gano’n maiayos natin ‘yong mga ahensya ng gobyerno at mga kawani ng gobyerno na tiwali," Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said when asked if the quad-committee
(This isn't politics, and it has nothing to do with political persecution. We're just doing our jobs in order to put our government agencies and corrupt government workers in order.)
Barbers, chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, said Congress must come up with legislation that can halt such government workers from entering into illegal activities.
Formed in plenary Tuesday through the adoption of a House resolution, the quad-committee is composed of the Committees on Dangerous Drugs, on Human rights, on Public Order and Safety, and on Public Accounts.
It will launch on Aug. 15 its joint probe on the "interconnected" issues of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), illegal drugs, and the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) during the previous Duterte administration’s bloody war on illegal drugs.
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Santa Rosa City lone district Rep. Dan Fernandez, chairman of the House Committee on Public Order and Safety, also denied allegations that the quad-committee's investigation was meant to scrutinize the actions of the previous Duterte administration or the Vice President.
"We never mentioned Vice President Sara and we have no intention. But if the evidence will lead to her, then so be it." he said.
"But for now, lahat ng investigation namin transparent, nakikita niyo, napapanood, lahat yun leading to the present administration, ‘yong mga nakaupong opisyal," Fernandez underscored.
(All of our investigations are transparent, you can see it, you can watch it, all of it leads to the present administration, to the sitting officials.)
Vice President Duterte's father is former president Rodrigo Duterte, whose signature campaign during his tenure from 2016 to 2022 was his aggressive anti-illegal drugs drive.
It was also during the elder Duterte's time that POGOs proliferated in the Philippines.