(UPDATE) Vice President Sara Duterte said her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, deserves a “best dramatic actor” award for his performance during the 12-hour House Quad Committee hearing on Wednesday.

Duterte, 79, often appeared angry and agitated while answering probing questions from committee members.

The panel had to declare short indentations to allow the stresses to subside.

OVP@89: Vice President Sara Duterte delivers a speech during the 89th anniversary of the Office of the Vice President on November 15, 2024. PHOTO BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE

After the hearing, a video surfaced on social media, in which the former president asked her daughter how she did in front of the panel, on a scale of 1 to 10.

Sara told him he was “the best actor” and gave him a 12.

On Friday, on the sidelines of the 89th anniversary of the Office of the Vice President, Duterte said he accompanied his father to the quadcomm hearing because he has a tendency not to listen to his lawyers and advisers in formulating answers to congressmen’s questions.

“Kayo na lang ang umintindi, nakitata n’yo naman sa ginagawa n’ya, (You are the judge; you can see it in his actions),” Duterte said, praising her father’s performance.

However, ACT Teachers representative France Castro is unimpressed, saying “Sara’s attempt to paint her father as a victim is a desperate move to deflect attention from serious allegations of human rights abuses during her administration”.

“The former president may be ‘the best dramatic actor,’ as his daughter claims, but the thousands of victims of extrajudicial killings deserve justice, not theater,” Castro said.

Duterte also said she is not inclined to attend the next hearing on November 20 of the House blue ribbon committee.

She said she would only send a letter explaining why and file an affidavit regarding her office’s use of confidential funds.

Representative Joel Chua, head of the blue ribbon panel, said it was up to Sara whether she decides to skip the hearing.

The vice president also said he believes some of the bank accounts that were mentioned by former senator Antonio Trillanes IV during Wednesday’s quadcomm hearing may be “non-existent.”

Trillanes had claimed that Sara, together with her father, had secret bank accounts containing their family’s “unexplained wealth” worth about P214 million.

He said the accounts were included as evidence in the case he submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman.

Duterte said she went to the banks where the accounts were allegedly held and asked officials if any of the accounts were in her name.

She said bank officials told her the accounts might not exist.

Sara also said that she decided to make OVP’s anniversary a simple celebration as she was busy preparing relief items to be distributed to areas threatened by the approach of Typhoon Pepito and continues to conduct relief operations for victims of Typhoon Ofel.

On Friday, the Akbayan party-list group welcomed Malacañang’s statement that it will not object or block former President Duterte if he submits to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The palace issued the statement on Wednesday after Duterte challenged the ICC to begin investigating his administration’s war on drugs.

“We support this statement from the Palace to ensure real accountability for the thousands of deaths in Duterte’s bloody war on illegal drugs,” said Chel Diokno, Akbayan’s first nominee.

Diokno also said Duterte’s challenge to the ICC was “insulting and hypocritical” because it was Duterte who pulled the Philippines out of the ICC when he was president.

“But we can still use the ICC’s challenge to hold him accountable for the thousands who have died in his war on drugs. While Duterte’s words may be more about deflection, we must take this opportunity to hold him responsible for the thousands who died in his unjust campaign. We should ensure that Malacañang’s statement is more than a procedural position – it is a chance to assert that the law applies to all, regardless of power or influence. Diokno said.

He asked Duterte to “look in his calendar and mark the date he wants to go to the ICC. We will fulfill his request. Let’s go, Mr. Duterte. Let’s set the date for CPI. The ICC is waiting and so is justice.”

Rep. Akbayan Percival Cendaña earlier called Duterte’s audacity at the ICC an empty bluff.