Bato: Duterte to attend first Senate hearing

MANILA, Philippines — After begging off from the quad committee hearing yesterday at the House of Representatives on extrajudicial killings during his administration, former president Rodrigo Duterte has committed to attend the first Senate hearing on the same issue on Monday.

This was according to Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who said Duterte had told him of his readiness to attend the hearing next week.

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee will lead the
 investigation on EJKs.

“The former president told me that he is going to attend the Senate hearing regardless of who is presiding,” Dela Rosa told reporters in a Viber message.

“This is the first time he will attend a hearing related to what he did or did not do when he was president,” Senate President Francis Escudero said at a press conference.

“My hope is that there will be a clear, peaceful and comprehensive exchange of views and providing information that will not lead to any kind of fight, confrontation and hot temper,” Escudero said in Filipino.

Escudero noted that there will be no special treatment to be extended to Duterte. “It’s not that there is no special treatment, but I expect that the committee will give him full respect, not only as a Filipino, not just as a person, but because he was a former president of our country,” the Senate President said.

Senate Minority Aquilino Pimentel III, who is spearheading the Senate probe, said the other invited resource persons for the Oct. 28 hearing are retired police colonel Royina Garma, former National Police Commission head Edilberto Leonardo, former senator Leila de Lima, alleged drug personalities Kerwin Espinosa and families of victims of the war on drugs.

“He said he was willing to attend. So I said, (since he) willing to attend. I’ll invite him…but I’ll still start with Garma. It should be stated first what the issue is,” Pimentel said in a phone patch interview with Senate reporters.

Pimentel said they are still finalizing the list of resource persons to be invited for Monday’s hearing.

“The victim families are OK (to be present), and Garma is OK too. But either way, what I want to say first is, what happened in the Philippines’ declared war against illegal