A pleasant surprise from a 'hearing in aid of legislation' | The Manila Times

IN mid-August, an unusual body comprising four House committees was convened, with the announced objective of investigating the connections among Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGOs), the illegal drug trade and extrajudicial killings resulting from former president Rodrigo Duterte's bloody "war on drugs." The so-called quad committee, or quadcomm, as it became known, at first appeared to be yet another tiresome example of publicity-seeking congressional theatrics, but instead has turned out to be a pleasantly surprising model for how "investigations in aid of legislation" should be conducted.

At the time the quadcomm was formed from the House Committees on Dangerous Drugs, Public Order and Safety, Human Rights and Public Accounts, the public's attention had been captured by two ongoing, large-scale scandals, the first involving the discovery of a large POGO facility engaged in all manner of criminal activity in Bamban, Tarlac, whose mayor, Alice Guo, was discovered to be a Chinese who had allegedly used fraudulent Philippine birth records to qualify for elected office. The second scandal was the behavior of Vice President Sara Duterte, who was aggressively evading questions (and continues to do so) about her use of public funds in both the Office of the Vice President and in the Department of Education, which she had headed until publicly breaking with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and resigning her post as education secretary in June.