President Rodrigo Duterte said he would soon bar his Cabinet officials from attending the Senate inquiry into the alleged misuse of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) response funds.
In his pre-recorded public address aired on Thursday night, Duterte has ordered Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to issue a memorandum directing those from the Executive department to no longer obey the Senate panel's summons.
This, as he criticized Sen. Richard Gordon's "undemocratic" remark that he will continue the Senate inquiry "until kingdom come."
"I will issue a memorandum na lahat ng nasa (that everyone in the) Executive Department will no longer obey your summons," Duterte said.
"You are overstepping your jurisdiction on this. There is an abuse of discretion already. This is not an acceptable statement in a democracy. We are run by laws and rules, and you cannot do that for us to wait for kingdom come," he added.
The President said he wanted the Cabinet officials to focus on the pandemic response, instead of being summoned every now and then to attend the Senate inquiry.
"I want Cabinet members to focus on Covid-19. It is a pandemic and it has spread throughout the country. Malaki pa ang trabaho natin (We still have a lot of work to do)," he said.
In his pre-recorded public address aired on Thursday night, Duterte has ordered Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to issue a memorandum directing those from the Executive department to no longer obey the Senate panel's summons.
This, as he criticized Sen. Richard Gordon's "undemocratic" remark that he will continue the Senate inquiry "until kingdom come."
"I will issue a memorandum na lahat ng nasa (that everyone in the) Executive Department will no longer obey your summons," Duterte said.
"You are overstepping your jurisdiction on this. There is an abuse of discretion already. This is not an acceptable statement in a democracy. We are run by laws and rules, and you cannot do that for us to wait for kingdom come," he added.
The President said he wanted the Cabinet officials to focus on the pandemic response, instead of being summoned every now and then to attend the Senate inquiry.
"I want Cabinet members to focus on Covid-19. It is a pandemic and it has spread throughout the country. Malaki pa ang trabaho natin (We still have a lot of work to do)," he said.