Palace lectures dela Rosa on executive privilege doctrine

The Palace lectured Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa about the executive privilege doctrine after he complained about the Cabinet officials’ absence at the Senate’s second hearing on the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday, April 3, 2025. Screengrab from RTVM/FACEBOOK

MANILA, Philippines — The Palace lectured Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa about the executive privilege doctrine after he complained about the Cabinet officials’ absence at Thursday’s Senate second hearing on the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

In a briefing at Malacañang on Thursday, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro also told dela Rosa that he should have attended the previous hearing of the Senate foreign relations committee chaired by Sen. Imee Marcos if he wanted to ask questions from Cabinet officials who were in attendance.

READ: Senate starts probe of Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest

“Does he not remember that there was already a first hearing? I believe he was the absent one. That was an opportunity for him to ask questions. So he shouldn’t blame others if our Cabinet officials did not attend the second hearing,” Castro said in Filipino.

Executive privilege is a constitutional doctrine that allows high-ranking officials to withhold sensitive information.

“Senator Bato should also know that the Supreme Court has long upheld executive privilege, with several cases decided on the matter. These include Senate vs. Ermita and Neri vs. Senate Committee, where the Supreme Court affirmed that executive privilege can be invoked by the President and high-ranking officials, especially in matters concerning deliberative process privilege, presidential communications privilege, or state secrets privilege,” she explained.

Castro also dismissed de la Rosa’s remarks during the hearing that the country would be on the verge of a constitutional crisis if officials would continue to refuse to participate in the probe.

In the hearing, the senator also pushed for issuing a subpoena to the Cabinet officials who did not attend.

“That is up to him if he wants to issue a subpoena, but he should also make sure that he will be present,” Castro said.

READ: Admin officials no-show in next Senate hearing on Duterte arrest

In an ambush interview earlier in the day, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin already said that the attendance of Cabinet officials in the hearing would likely be unhelpful, as the topics to be discussed would lead to the invocation of their executive privilege.

He also cited the sub judice rule as a reason for their absence.