Senators on Friday criticized the claims of President Rodrigo Duterte that senators only use the investigations on alleged corruption in some government agencies for "posturing" in the upcoming national elections.
In a statement, Senate President Tito Sotto III said Duterte may just be "misinformed."
“Baka nakalimutan niya or misinformed, I will send him the Senate report on the Committee of the Whole investigation on PhilHealth,” Sotto said in a text message sent to reporters.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson also begs to differ on the President's statement, saying that he should just instead focus on his administration's "shortcomings."
“Filipinos should not believe him that nothing has come out of our Senate inquiries,” Lacson said.
“The president should instead spend his time to focus on the shortcomings of his administration due to incompetence and corruption of several of his officials, not only in addressing the pandemic but in the many aspects of governance,” he added.
In his taped address on Thursday night, Duterte said the public should instead believe him and his Cabinet secretaries when they say there is no corruption in the government.
"Kung pakinggan mo mga ibang senador diyan, mayroon talagang masabi. After an investigation, one or two or three days, a few hearings, wala na. Walang rekomendasyon, walang dinemanda, walang napreso. Puro postura lang, kuwestiyon-kuwestiyon," he added.
The Chief Executive's statement came after the Commission on Audit release its 2020 report that drew more criticisms to the Department of Health (DOH) over the use of the PHP 67 billion COVID-19 funds.
Duterte immediately defended embattled Health Secretary Francisco Duque III amid the controversies, saying he will neither fire him nor ask to resign since he did nothing wrong.
Senator Joel Villanueva, meanwhile, said senate investigations have led to the “correction of bad policies, the money of taxpayers saved, crimes averted, questions answered and the truth revealed.”
“Probes are not hobbies that we pursue, but a constitutional duty we perform. It is a role assigned to us by the people and not something we do on a whim,” Villanueva said.
“We do not relish conducting investigation. In fact, we shall be happy if the need ceases to exist because it would mean that a government is running smoothly, free from irregularities,” he added.
