BLOCKBUSTER HEARING: Duterte’s appearance at House probe attracts million online views

National

THE appearance of former President Rodrigo Duterte at the latest House quad-committee hearing was a hit online.

The House hearing that saw Duterte figure in tension-filled exchanges with some lawmakers and resources gained more than a million views on social media accounts, particularly on YouTube.

A philstar.com report stated that the House of Representatives' YouTube channel, with 221,000 subscribers, received 1.2 million views during part 1 of the 11th public hearing of the House-quad committee hearing on November 13. The second part also garnered 755, 833 views.

As to the Facebook page of the House of Representatives, the hearing that was cut into two parts also garnered 861, 000 views.

During the hearing, Duterte revealed more pieces of information about the drug war under his watch as president, including his admitting that he killed six or seven people in Davao City, who according to Duterte were criminals.

Duterte was seen as if about to punch former senator Leila de Lima who sat beside him. De Lima is one of the former president’s fiercest critics.

Duterte also lost his cool and grabbed his microphone which he nearly threw at former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who was three seats away to his left. The former president lost his temper after Trillanes alleged that there were funds that were deposited to the Duterte family’s bank accounts.

In the same hearing, the 79-year-old Duterte also urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to rush the investigation of the war on drugs under his watch, saying the “issue has been left hanging for so many years” and that he might die before the ICC can investigate him.

The remarks made by the former president drew mixed reactions from the viewers, while others were proud and praised Duterte’s statement, some criticized his remarks, pointing out that those innocent people who were killed should be given true justice.

The live stream of the hearing lasted for 13 hours.(LAO)