Members of the Cabinet on Thursday, April 3 snubbed the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations’ second public hearing on the government’s move to surrender former president Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Their decision not to appear at the hearing was due to a letter dated March 31 where Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin stated the Palace’s decision to “respectfully decline” the invitation to attend the April 3 hearing of the Senate panel, chaired by Sen. Imee Marcos, the President’s sister.

The Palace, based on Bersamin’s letter, invoked executive privilege and the subjudice rule, in its decision to decline the panel’s invitation.

Sen. Imee Marcos slammed the non-appearance of the Cabinet members saying that executive privilege should not be used as a “blanket shield.”

“Nire-respeto ko ang doktrina ng executive privilege, pero pakatandaan natin, hindi ito pwedeng gamitin bilang blanket shield—pangkalahatang pantakip para itago ang tanong at umiwas sa paanyaya ng Senado (I respect the doctrine of executive privilege, but let's remember, it cannot be used as a blanket shield—a blanket cover to hide the questions and avoid the Senate's invitation),” Marcos said in her opening statement during the hearing.

Also present during the hearing, were Duterte’s allies Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa; Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go appeared in a video message.

“Kung ang sigaw ng taumbayan para kay dating presidente Rodrigo Duterte ay bring him home, ang sigaw ko naman sa ehekutibo ay bring them here. Para may testigo tayo at maliwanagan ang mga tao (if the people’s call for former president Rodrigo Duterte is to bring him home, my call for the Executive branch is to bring them here. So we can have witnesses and the people will be enlightened),” she pointed out.

Marcos also bared a list of the names of department heads and agencies that she wants the Senate to subpoena for them to appear in the next hearing.

Dela Rosa moved to subpoena all government officials involved in the arrest of the former president and urged the foreign relations panel to require their presence in the next committee hearing.

“What we have right now in front of us are empty chairs. What these government officials did from the executive branch is a total snub and this is a blatant disregard for the doctrine of checks and balances of our government,” Dela Rosa lamented.

“So, what will happen to this? I think we are now on the verge of a constitutional crisis if they continue disregarding the invitation of this committee,” he stressed.

Earlier in the day, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero said he has referred to the Senate legal department the foreign relations committee’s request to subpoena a Philippine Air Force official and a prosecutor from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) National Prosecution Service.

Escudero cited the need to tread carefully on the matter, noting that there were already two Supreme Court decisions that upheld the Executive Department’s authority to invoke executive privilege.

“Ang huling gusto kong mangyari sa gitna at sa kabila ng napakarami nang kaguluhan sa ating bansa ay dagdagan pa ito sa pamamagitan ng isang constitutional crisis kaugnay ng subpoena sa kabilang banda at invocation ng executive privilege sa isang banda (The last thing I want to happen is to add fuel to the fire by presenting a constitutional crisis through the subpoena that we will issue and the invocation of executive privilege on the other end), ” the Senate president said.

After the hearing, Escudero again assured that he will refer any future request of the committee to subpoena Cabinet members before the Senate’s legal department.

“Ang pagiging malaya ng Senado ay hindi pinapatunayan sa kada isang insidente sa kagustuhan ng isang myembro. Ito’y mababakas, ma makikita’t mapapatunayan sa direksyong tinatahak ng aming institution (The independence of the Senate cannot be proven in every incident at the whim of a member. It can be seen, it will be visible and proven through the direction our institution will be taking),” the Senate leader stressed.