(UPDATE) VICE President Sara Duterte said her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, deserves a “best dramatic actor” award for his performance during the 12-hour hearing of the House Quad Committee on Wednesday.
The 79-year-old Duterte often appeared angry and agitated as he fielded probing questions from the members of the committee.
The panel had to declare short recesses to allow tensions to subside.
OVP@89: Vice President Sara Duterte delivers a speech during the 89th anniversary of the Office of the Vice President on Nov. 15, 2024. PHOTO BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
After the hearing, a video went the rounds on social media, which showed the former president asking her daughter how he fared before the panel, on a scale of 1 to 10.
Sara told him that he was the “best actor” and gave him a score of 12.
At the sidelines of the 89th anniversary of the Office of the Vice President on Friday, Duterte said she accompanied her father to the quadcomm hearing because he has a tendency to not listen to his lawyers and advisers in framing his replies to the congressmen’s questions.
“Kayo na lang ang umintindi, nakikita n’yo naman sa ginagawa n’ya, (You be the judge; you can see it in his actions),” Duterte said in lauding her father’s performance.
ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, however, is not impressed, saying Sara’s “attempt to paint her father as a victim is a desperate move to deflect attention from the serious allegations of human rights violations during his administration.”
“The former president may be ‘the best dramatic actor’ as his daughter claims, but the thousands of victims of extrajudicial killings deserve justice, not theatrics,” Castro said.
Duterte also said she was not inclined to attend the next hearing on Nov. 20 of the House blue ribbon committee.
She said she will just send a letter explaining why, and submit a sworn affidavit regarding the use of confidential funds by her office.
Rep. Joel Chua, head of the blue ribbon panel, said it was up to Sara if she decided to skip the hearing.
The vice president also said she believed that some of the bank accounts that were mentioned by former senator Antonio Trillanes IV during Wednesday’s quadcomm hearing may be “nonexistent.”
Trillanes had claimed that Sara, together with her father, had secret bank accounts that contained their family’s “unexplained wealth” worth around P214 million.
He said the accounts were included as evidence in the case he filed at the Office of the Ombudsman.
Duterte said she went to the banks where the accounts were supposedly held and asked the officials if any of the accounts were in her name.
She said the bank officials told her the accounts could be nonexistent.
Sara also said she decided to make the anniversary of the OVP a simple celebration because it was busy preparing relief items to be distributed in areas threatened by approaching Typhoon Pepito and still conducting relief operations for victims of Typhoon Ofel.
On Friday, the party-list group Akbayan welcomed Malacañang’s statement that it will not object or block former president Duterte if he submits himself to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The Palace issued the statement on Wednesday after Duterte challenged the ICC to begin its investigation into his administration’s war on drugs.
“We support this statement from the Palace to ensure real accountability for the thousands of deaths in Duterte’s bloody war on illegal drugs,” Akbayan first nominee Chel Diokno said.
Diokno also said Duterte’s challenge to the ICC was “insulting and hypocritical,” since it was Duterte who pulled out the Philippines from the ICC when he was president.
“But we can still use his challenge to the ICC to hold him accountable for the thousands who died in his war on drugs. While Duterte’s words may be more about deflection, we must seize this opportunity to hold him responsible for the thousands who perished in his unjust campaign. We should ensure that Malacañang’s statement is more than just a procedural position — it is a chance to affirm that the law applies to all, regardless of power or influence,” Diokno said.
Vice President Sara Duterte attends the 89th founding anniversary of the Office of the Vice President in Mandaluyong City on Nov. 15, 2024. Reports said a total of 200 personnel could lose their jobs if the P733-million budget eyed by Congress would be approved. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
Vice President Sara Duterte attends the 89th founding anniversary of the Office of the Vice President in Mandaluyong City on Nov. 15, 2024. Reports said a total of 200 personnel could lose their jobs if the P733-million budget eyed by Congress would be approved. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
Vice President Sara Duterte attends the 89th founding anniversary of the Office of the Vice President in Mandaluyong City on Nov. 15, 2024. Reports said a total of 200 personnel could lose their jobs if the P733-million budget eyed by Congress would be approved. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
Vice President Sara Duterte attends the 89th founding anniversary of the Office of the Vice President in Mandaluyong City on Nov. 15, 2024. Reports said a total of 200 personnel could lose their jobs if the P733-million budget eyed by Congress would be approved. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
Vice President Sara Duterte attends the 89th founding anniversary of the Office of the Vice President in Mandaluyong City on Nov. 15, 2024. Reports said a total of 200 personnel could lose their jobs if the P733-million budget eyed by Congress would be approved. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
Vice President Sara Duterte attends the 89th founding anniversary of the Office of the Vice President in Mandaluyong City on Nov. 15, 2024. Reports said a total of 200 personnel could lose their jobs if the P733-million budget eyed by Congress would be approved. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
Vice President Sara Duterte attends the 89th founding anniversary of the Office of the Vice President in Mandaluyong City on Nov. 15, 2024. Reports said a total of 200 personnel could lose their jobs if the P733-million budget eyed by Congress would be approved. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
He called on Duterte to “look into his calendar and mark the date when he wants to go to the ICC. We will oblige his request. Let’s go, Mr. Duterte. Let’s set the date for the ICC. The ICC is waiting, and so is justice.”
Akbayan Rep. Percival Cendaña earlier called Duterte’s dare to the ICC an empty bluff.
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