Party-list lawmaker seeks mutual respect from Duterte

By Dolly Yasa

 

BACOLOD City – “It’s just a matter of due recognition and mutual respect between and among the three branches of government for our brand of democracy to work.”

This was the reaction of House Minority Leader Joseph Stephen “Caraps” Paduano to the threat issued by President Rodrigo Duterte against any congressional probe on the alleged unauthorized use of vaccines by members of the Presidential Security Group.

As he called on the President to recognize the constitutionally mandated duty of Congress to conduct investigations, the Abang Lingkod party-list solon revealed that there is no pending resolution in the House of Representatives pushing for a legislative inquiry on the controversy.

 

“I think the President went on a rampage because of Sen. Frank Drilon’s statement that the PSG commander must be required to be present in the Senate Committee of the whole to explain the vaccines administered to PSG members,” Paduano stressed.

 

Duterte had warned Congress “not to tinker” with the PSG as he directed his security forces to ignore any invite for congressional inquiry.

 

“There is no need to pre-emptively issue a threat as the rules on legislative inquiry are well settled,” Paduano said. As he emphasized that nothing stops Congress from initiating a legislative probe, Paduano said the President can always claim Executive Privilege and Congress is duty-bound to respect that.