GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres said he has neither instructed those who have been subpoenaed by the House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations to testify or not to testify, nor has he instructed them on what to say or not to say.
These include his executive assistant, Frances “Kai” Dela Cruz, who was subpoenaed to appear before the committee on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. in the House chamber.
“She has an attorney and she [can] discuss those options that she has, and that’s that,” the governor said on Friday.
Whether or not Dela Cruz would appear before the committee is a decision between her and her attorney, he added.
Dela Cruz was originally scheduled to testify Thursday last week, but her legal counsel, Viola Alepuyo, informed the committee that her client would not be able to appear “in light of the constitutional testimonial privilege and immunity recently raised by the attorneys for the Office of the Governor.”
The committee then accommodated the request of the governor’s Washington, D.C.-based lawyer, Ross Garber, to meet with them on Wednesday last week to discuss the issue.
Torres said Garber represents him and the Office of the Governor, and that any question pertaining to what Garber had communicated to the committee should be posed directly to the lawyer.
“I think you should ask him or [Dela Cruz’s] attorney. I don’t want to speak on behalf of anyone else as well,” the governor said.
The Democrat-led House JGO Committee said it is investigating what it said are the governor’s highly questionable public expenditures.
The governor on Friday said, “I’ve said this…before: if it’s information that they need, they could’ve just asked me…. I would’ve just answered [them], but they continue to call everybody else pertaining to whatever investigation they’re conducting. So, there’s a process and we’re going through that process.”
Ralph DLG Torres
