At the QuadComm Hearing, Duterte Tries to Kill Time

By Joey Salgado

Salvador Panelo, former spokesman and legal counsel of former president Rodrigo Duterte, teased a brawl at the House of Representatives Wednesday, one where Duterte would emerge vindicated and victorious and the congressmen shamed and bruised.

After all, wasn’t the House a captive institution during the Duterte administration, bowing to his every wish, showering him with praises for his drug war, among them members of the QuadComm? Didn’t the House, especially during the term of Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte’s running mate, behave more like an extension of the Palace rather than an independent branch of government mandated by the Constitution to check the abuse of executive power?

The hearing by the QuadComm would be a minor inconvenience for Duterte, they boasted. He would easily deflect the questions and the inquisitors would melt in their seats with a mere death stare. The strongman would be there to kill time. 

That didn’t happen. Turns out the congressmen were ready to brawl as well. And from the start, it was made clear to Duterte that his behavior during that poor excuse of a hearing at the Senate will not be tolerated. His trademark vulgarity will not be tolerated. Disrespect for the committee and its members will not be tolerated. 

For the congressmen, it was a preemptive power play. It was a reminder, or rather an assertion, of the authority of the House and as a private citizen, Duterte was told, in clear terms, that he should show respect. This will not be a repeat of the Senate hearing.  

Duterte is unaccustomed to being told how to behave. He is not used to a hostile audience. For decades he has basked in the adulation of the crowd and the fawning ways of sycophants. That warning from the congressmen must have come as a shock to him. A few weeks ago, the Senate allowed him to hijack a similar hearing on his drug war, which he turned into a rerun of the profanity-laced live broadcasts he used to deliver when he was president.

The congressmen were not overtly hostile. They were on the whole respectful but not intimidated, polite but not obsequious, patient and, at times, methodical in eliciting from Duterte several admissions against interest. 

For one, it would be difficult for his advisers and apologists to walk back Duterte’s statement daring the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and jail him, a dare that drew a bombshell of a statement from Malacañang, signaling a seismic shift in its previous position. 

According to Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, the Palace would not stand in the way of the former president’s wishes. He made it clear, though, that government agencies would have to assist the Interpol should the ICC seek its help in arresting Duterte and his cohorts.

Most likely it was the Palace statement that sent the daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, rushing to the House, perhaps with the intent of reining in her father’s legally incriminating verbosity. But not even her presence could stop Duterte from digging a deeper hole for himself.

During the course of the protracted hearing, he admitted that as Davao City mayor he killed six to seven people. He confirmed a cash reward system for drug kills, and claimed responsibility for the deaths of thousands in his scandalous drug war. All under oath.

But Duterte being Duterte, he could not really keep his volatility in check, displaying flashes of anger against two former senators. He made a gesture of punching former senator Leila de Lima, who was seated beside him, and grabbed a microphone and tried to hurl it in the direction of former senator Antonio Trillanes. 

These were, however, feeble gestures, intended to elicit images of the tough guy who was favored by millions in 2016. It was Duterte vainly holding on to his shadow, trying to project a persona that has faded with time, like an old boxer trying to reclaim lost glory.

The Duterte we saw at the House hearing was not the Duterte of 2016, not even the Duterte of the Senate hearing a few weeks ago. He seems to wither with each passing week, but reminders of mortality have failed to elicit even a hint of contrition, a glimmer of humility, and humanity. 

Like all mortals, Duterte must reckon with the ravages of age, bad habits, and karma. And time, clearly, is not on his side.

This article also appears in Rappler