Members of the House of Representatives on Wednesday vehemently denied that politics is behind the consolidation of the hearings of four committees on several issues of national importance, which includes the extrajudicial killings during the Duterte administration, POGOs, illegal drugs and other criminal activities.
Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers and Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante all said that politics had nothing to do with the consolidated congressional probe of the quadcomm.
The quadcomm probe is a consolidation of the subjects of investigation of four committees: the Committee on Dangerous Drugs chaired by Barbers, Committee on Human Rights chaired by Abante, Committee on Public Order and Safety chaired by Rep. Dan Fernandez and Committee on Public Accounts chaired by Joseph Stephen Paduano.
“We are not into that business, yung magkaroon ng or sasali kami sa isang political squabble. No. We are here to do our job,” said Acop, vice chair and member of the committees in the quadcomm, when asked if politics is behind the probe.
“And our job is to find out if the laws we have enacted in Congress are properly implemented by the Executive. We enact laws, the Executive will implement these laws,”
The lawmakers earlier said that they would be inviting former President Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Bato Dela Rosa to the quadcomm probe.
Both Acop and Barbers said that resource persons, including Duterte and Dela Rosa, will be afforded the utmost respect if and when they decide to attend the congressional hearings.
“Yung aming mga iniimbitahang resource persons … will help the committee in crafting legislation. Ngayon, of course, we want to invite people who are in the know. Yung may pagkakaalam, ‘yung mayroong wisdom na pwedeng makatulong sa amin,” Barbers said.
“And if any of the committees will deem it proper to invite the former president or any resource persons for that matter, as long as makakatulong, bakit hindi? Gaya ng sinabi ni Chairman Acop, karapatan din po nilang tumanggi and we respect that,” he added.
Barbers also denied that the quadcomm probe is about political persecution.
“Hindi ito politika, hindi ito related sa political persecution. Ginagawa lang po naming ang trabaho namin nang sa ganun ay maiayos natin yung mga ahensiya ng gobyerno at mga kawani ng gobyerno na tiwali, pumapasok sa mga kalokohan,” he noted.
“Kailangan tingnan din kung anong batas ang pwedeng gawin ng Kongreso dahil nakita natin itong problemang ito ay hindi ma-solve ngayon at ito ay mapabayaan, lalaki ito. Kawawa ang mga anak ninyo at mga apo natin,” he added.
The lawmakers said that the fact that most of what they are probing happened during the last administration is only incidental.
“The previous administration might have triggered this investigation. It's continuing on kaya nga nag-iimbestiga kami so that makapag-craft kami ng legislation to put a stop to the alleged criminal organization that had happened,” Abante said.
“It’s continuing on eh, hindi naman ito talaga politiko. Actually, (we are) trying to stop what has been happening for a number of years,” he added.
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