Pulong Duterte wants to attend next Quadcom hearing on drug war deaths

Davao City Representative Paolo "Pulong" Duterte is seeking to attend and participate in the next hearing of the four House committees regarding drug war deaths and the illegal drug trade in the country. 

This was announced by House Committee on Public Accounts chairman Joseph Stephen Paduano on Thursday during the continuation of the hearing of the four committees, collectively known as Quadcom.

“We have received a copy of letter coming from the Hon. Paolo Z. Duterte with regards to some queries, addressed to the quad committee chairman,” Paduano said. 

In response, Surigao del Norte Representative Ace Barbers, the overall chairman of the Quadcom, asked the Committee secretary to extend the invitation to Rep. Duterte, the eldest son of former President Rodrigo Duterte. 

“Well, the letter states that there are questions that the Hon. Paolo Duterte wishes to ask the resource persons. And may we just ask the Committee Secretary to please make sure that the invitation will be extended to the Hon. Paolo Duterte in the next Quadcom hearing with the topic on drugs and extrajudicial killings,” Barbers said. 

On Saturday, Barbers said the committee would respect former President Duterte’s decision should he refuse to attend the probe into the alleged extrajudicial killings being linked to his administration’s war on drugs. 

The House Quadcom approved last month a motion to invite the elder Duterte amid allegations implicating him in the murder of three convicted Chinese drug lords in 2016.

Former President Duterte and other top officials of his administration are already being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity in connection with the thousands of deaths being linked to his war on drugs. —KBK, GMA Integrated News