MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Former President Rodrigo Duterte has defied the appeal made by her daughter鈥擵ice President Sara Duterte鈥攖hat the ex-leader be excused from the House of Representatives鈥� quad committee hearing as it is already getting late.
When the quad committee hearing on Wednesday was suspended at 9:10 p.m., Vice President Duterte approached lead presiding officer and Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez, Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr., and Deputy Speaker David Suarez to discuss something.
READ: Ex-President Duterte shows up at House quad comm drug war hearing
After some time, Barbers asked former President Duterte if he wanted to be excused.
鈥淢r. President, if you would like to rest [鈥 we can excuse you,鈥� Barbers said.
鈥淣o sir, I am willing to sit here and testify until probably 2 in the morning (of Thursday). Hindi ako nagbibiro, kung gusto ninyo, hanggang alas sais (I am not joking, if you want we can go up to 6 a.m.),鈥� Duterte replied.
Barbers and Fernandez then reiterated the quad committee鈥檚 offer for former President Duterte to go home and call it a night鈥攁nd consider the Vice President鈥檚 request. However, the older Duterte said he would not listen to her, especially since she is still not a president.
鈥淢r. President, inaaalala lang po namin ang inyong health, at dahil ito naman po ay hindi pa ho ito ang una鈥檛 huling hearing na gagawin natin, and we wanted to make sure na ano ho kayo, kayo po ay healthy (Mr. President, we are just concerned about your health, and because this is not the first and last hearing that we will do, we wanted to make sure that you are healthy.),鈥� Barbers said.
鈥淚t would be great for the people to know that I died in your (committee hearing),鈥� Duterte replied.
鈥淢r. President, (this is) in deference also with the request of the Vice President, she is just concerned about your health, and that鈥檚 the reason why the chairmen decided to let you go,鈥� Fernandez said.
鈥淓h, Vice President lang naman, hindi naman siya Presidente. Maghintay siya kung Presidente siya, maniwala tayo (But she鈥檚 just a vice president only, not a president. Let鈥檚 wait until she becomes a president, then we will believe her.),鈥� Duterte added.
According to Duterte, he wants to stay because it is expensive for him to travel back and forth to Davao City.
鈥淚 come from a far away place, it鈥檚 expensive to travel, let us have a continuous hearing, maybe five to 10 days, and each hearing, for me I鈥檓 good until two in the morning. I demand that kind of (treatment) because I鈥檓 from the province, I am not that rich. Every time that I am summoned here, it鈥檚 (a huge) expense, hotel and airfare,鈥� Duterte said.
鈥淣ow if we continue with this kind of style I鈥檒l go broke. I am living on my retirement pay, I have no business, ask anyone in Davao, they know. I have no outside source of income except my retirement pay [鈥 so it may be better if I continue the hearing until kingdom come, until this committee will come to a logical and right decision,鈥� he added.
Duterte attended the quad committee hearing after being invited numerous times, to shed light on the alleged human rights violations in his drug war.
The former President has been a central figure in the probe, especially after former police officials delivered shocking testimonies. Previously, retired police colonel Royina Garma claimed that a Davao model鈥攁 rewards system鈥攚as implemented in the nationwide drug war.
Garma said Duterte called her in May 2016鈥攚hen he was president-elect鈥攖o discuss the creation of a task force which will implement the Davao template on a nationwide scale. The Davao template, Garma said, involved providing cash grants worth P20,000 to P1 million to cops who kill drug suspects.