Nearly two months after it seemed that she had all but shunned the Martin Romualdez-led House of Representatives, Vice President Sara Duterte made another surprise appearance at the lower chamber.
Right after she defended the proposed 2025 budget of the Office of the Vice President at the Senate, Sara and her security detail were seen entering the People’s Center of the House late Wednesday afternoon, November 13. At the time, lawmakers were holding the quad committee hearing on her father’s war on drugs and extrajudicial killings. The star of that day’s probe was her former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Sara entered the quad committee hearing venue and took the seat behind her father, just across the families of drug war victims. When she walked in, her father had already spent hours bring grilled by lawmakers.
Unlike in the Senate drug war hearing where the the former president was surrounded by allies and only got properly queried by one senator, the House lawmakers, at the outset had reminded Duterte — a former congressman — of House rules on hearings. No cussing, no vulgar language, he was told, but the lawmakers still found themselves repeatedly reminding the former president of proper decorum whenever he raised his voice or talked over interpellating lawmakers.
Why was the Vice President there? Some observed that she might have been there to show support for her father, who is at the center of the House quad comm hearings, especially after the admissions made by retired police colonel Royina Garma and others in relation to Duterte and his drug war.
Sara last stepped foot in the House on September 18, when she made a surprise appearance at the House good government committee hearing that sought to discuss a privilege speech against issues involving her. At the time, she refused to take oath, and left the proceedings before lawmakers could ask questions.
She had been skipping the House hearings since then. The lower chamber has been probing the alleged misuse of confidential funds at the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, when she was education chief. The House has held over four hearings, but Sara had only attended the inaugural inquiry so far.
Sara’s OVP also boycotted its own budget deliberations back in September.
Sara is not part of the quad committee probe as she has yet to be invited by the mega-panel as a resource person. – Rappler.com