FORMER president Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday cast doubt on the integrity and independence of the House quad committee investigating the bloody war on drugs carried out by his administration and said he would not appear before the panel Thursday.
In a statement read by his lawyer, Duterte said he would not attend the hearing because he doubts the committee’s integrity, independence and probity to conduct the inquiry in aid of legislation.
In a letter to the overall chairman of the committee, Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, Duterte said it was “apparent that the inquiry is a mere political ploy aimed to indict him for crime or crimes he did not commit.”
Former president Rodrigo Duterte
Duterte said he had also appeared before the Senate investigation on the same issue on Oct. 28 and said he had “said everything he wanted to say on the subject of [the] Philippine war on illegal drugs and on the issue” of the alleged extrajudicial killings during that campaign.
The Manila Times tried to reach Barbers for comment but was unable to do so.
In August, Barbers denied that the investigation was politically motivated.
“Political harassment has no place here; we are just doing our job,” Barbers had said. “The truth is paramount. We are not here to play politics.”
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