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Jean Mangaluz - Philstar.com
April 1, 2025 | 4:27pm
Philippine officials attend a hearing of the Committee of Foreign Affairs following the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, at the Senate in Pasay, metro Manila on March 20, 2025. Duterte faces a charge of "the crime against humanity of murder", according to the ICC, for a crackdown that rights groups estimate killed tens of thousands of mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs.
AFP / Jam Sta Rosa
MANILA, Philippines — Members of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.’s Cabinet will no longer be attending Senate hearings on the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte, according to a letter from Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.
The letter was released by the office of Sen. Imee Marcos, who has become estranged from her brother, particularly in light of Duterte’s alleged turnover to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity related to the drug war.
Duterte’s ICC arrest prompted Imee to hold a Senate hearing last March as the chair of the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Bersamin said that Cabinet secretaries and other pertinent officials had already provided information during the March 20 hearing. He added that matters not covered by executive privilege had already been discussed.
There are also four Supreme Court petitions regarding Duterte’s possible arrest, which, according to Bersamin, are closely related to the topic of the Senate hearings.
He said that discussing the matter could constitute a violation of the sub judice rule, as it is still being deliberated in court.
“We must respectfully decline the invitation to attend the hearing. Nevertheless, we remain available to extend our full cooperation through other appropriate channels, should there be any further clarifications required within the bounds of the law,” Bersamin said in the letter.
Duterte’s arrest has been highly polarizing. Imee Marcos, despite being the president’s sister, has aligned herself with the Duterte clan.
What was initially intended as an inquiry into the implications of the ICC’s actions on foreign relations, however, shifted into a search for who was responsible for Duterte’s predicament. Imee’s preliminary findings from the hearing had little to do with foreign affairs, instead focusing on the Marcos administration’s role in Duterte’s legal troubles.
She even went as far as to allege that there were lapses in the process and that Duterte’s rights had been violated.
Imee made a public exit from her brother’s presidential slate in protest of Duterte’s arrest. The Palace said that if she believed her values were no longer aligned with the administration, then it was for the best that she left.
During the March 20 Senate hearing, Justice Secretary Boying Remulla acknowledged the failure of the justice system in addressing wrongful deaths in the drug war.
Duterte’s drug war resulted in at least 6,000 confirmed deaths, with some estimates going as high as 30,000.
There have only been four known convictions related to the drug war, a mere fraction of the total number of deaths.
