At least twice during a Senate probe on the arrest and subsequent transfer of former president Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court, Vice President Sara Duterte tried to quiz the military — at least twice — on why it did nothing to stop Philippine law enforcement.
But as quickly as she brought it up, whatever point she was trying to make was quickly downplayed by a man who once offered to be her 2022 running mate.
After all, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., who had supervision of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), had earlier told the panel: “Our sole mandate is to give support to the Philippine National Police when it is asked for. And therefore, such ends our jurisdiction.”
Vice President Duterte made a virtual appearance at the Thursday, March 20, hearing of the Senate foreign relations committee, which Senator Marcos chairs.
The younger Duterte, who was dialing in from the Netherlands, repeated her earlier assertions: that her father, a suspect in crimes against humanity, was not accorded due process. In the same breath, she bemoaned the AFP’s “silence.”
Later on in the hearing, before excusing herself for a virtual press conference with Philippine media, she asked again: Why did the AFP not do anything?
Teodoro, whose failed 2022 senatorial bid was under the once-vaunted Uniteam alliance, only repeated his earlier statement: the AFP’s jurisdiction ends at giving the PNP, a civilian law enforcement agency, support.
“It’s not that the AFP did not do something. The AFP was deputized, and supporting the PNP [and] the AFP cannot do anything else but to support the civilian authorities,” Teodoro told reporters in a chance interview after the hearing.
Teodoro, who like many prominent politicians in the Philippines, was once allied with the Dutertes, refused to “interpret” what the Vice President was trying to drive at, when prodded by reporters.
“I will not presuppose what she meant, but for the AFP to diverge from civilian authority is anathema to civilian authority,” added Teodoro.
Teodoro was just one of many Cabinet officials who attended the Senate probe, which Senator Marcos initiated to seek clarity on the “involvement and the roles of the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Police Organization, and the various government agencies in the arrest of [Duterte] and confirm that “measures were taken to ensure that the rights of [Duterte] under domestic laws and relevant treaties were properly protected throughout the process.”
Philippine officials, led by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, insisted Duterte’s arrest was above board and in compliance with both Philippine law and Manila’s international commitments.
And there’s another thing that binds Vice President Duterte to Teodoro — he occupies a post that she had reportedly wanted at the beginning of the Marcos administation: secretary of national defense.
In the end, Marcos gave her the education portfolio instead. It was her resignation as Department of Education chief that signaled the formal end of the Uniteam alliance that propelled their candidacies in 2022. – Rappler.com