House invites Duterte to drug war probe anew

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives’ quad committee will be again inviting former president Rodrigo Duterte to attend its next scheduled hearing on Nov. 7, when it continues its probe on alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) during his term.

Quad comm chairman Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said they will be sending another invitation to the former chief executive since he showed up at the EJK inquiry of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee on Monday.

Panel co-chair Rep. Benny Abante observed that Duterte didn’t seem to be of frail health when he attended the Senate probe and was, in effect, calling the shots during his testimony.

He urged Duterte to face the panel and tell the truth about his administration’s bloody anti-drug war and the thousands of EJK victims that resulted from his administration’s campaign against illegal drugs.

“If he was physically well to attend the Senate inquiry on Monday, he should have no excuse to skip our next hearing,” he said.

“We expect the former president to show up in our next hearing. We have many questions to ask him about his war on drugs and the deaths that resulted from it. We believe his answers will give us a more complete picture of the EJKs,” he added.

Duterte will face tougher questions should he agree to testify before the House, Abante said.

In an interview with “Storycon” on One News yesterday, Abante said they are ready to ask the former president many of the questions that were not asked during the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee hearing last Monday.

For instance, he said they have a video of Duterte saying that he used intelligence funds for the war on drugs.

“We’d like to ask him, how did he use the intelligence funds for the war on drugs?” the lawmaker said.

Unlike in the Senate, Abante said they will not allow Duterte to dominate the hearing.

“There was only one senator that actually asked the real questions and that was Sen. Risa Hontiveros… The other senators were actually timid in asking questions,” he added.

Abante also noted Sen. Ronald dela Rosa became defensive during the hearing.

“In the quad comm, when we invite him (Duterte), we are ready to ask questions… He’s not going to get the microphone and be the one to speak. He will be there to answer questions,” he added.

The panel will also not allow the former president to cuss. He added they are ready to him give stern warnings, but they will not cite him for contempt in deference to his position as former president.

Duterte’s legal counsel Martin Delgra promised the quad committee earlier that his client will attend the hearings after All Saints’ Day on Nov. 1.

“Rest assured of my client’s willingness to appear before the House on some other available date, preferably after Nov. 1,” Delgra said. This was after he declined to attend the Oct. 22 hearing, citing health reasons and the short notice.

“Considering his advanced age and the several engagements he had to attend, he is currently not feeling well and is in need of much rest. Hence, my client respectfully requests to defer his appearance before the honorable committee,” Delgra stated in a two-page letter.

PNP starts probe

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rommel Marbil has ordered a reinvestigation of the killings under the Duterte administration, including cases connected with a death squad.

“He (Marbil) ordered the extraction of the reported unsolved cases, particularly on the so-called drug-related deaths that allegedly involves the death squad,” PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said at a news briefing in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Marbil gave the directive after Duterte admitted he had a death squad composed of “gangsters” at the Senate’s drug war hearing on Monday.

While Duterte later backtracked on his statements during the Senate inquiry, Fajardo said it would not stop the PNP from conducting its own probe on the former president’s revelations.

“He mentioned some names and he pointed fingers to other police officers. That will be used as the lead and basis of the PNP to conduct further investigation,” she said.

Asked if the PNP has identified police officers with links to Duterte’s death squad, Fajardo said it is too early to say that some police officers are involved in EJKs, noting it is better to wait for the result of the investigation.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) yesterday urged the PNP and other agencies to cooperate in the drug war investigations.

“As questions surrounding the past administration’s drug war continue to be addressed, CHR calls on all stakeholders and agencies, including the Philippine National Police, to cooperate fully to uncover the complete truth,” it added.

In a radio interview, CHR Chairman Richard Palpal-latoc said the current PNP leadership is still citing an executive order issued by Duterte in denying their requests to access police reports.

“The Commission remains optimistic that the testimonies and sworn statements presented in the Senate hearings, along with the quad committee hearings in the House of Representatives, will help bring full justice to all,” the CHR said in its latest statement.

The CHR also expressed concern over Duterte’s “confession” that he would “rather have suspected drug dealers killed” than allow them due process.

“The Commission has long condemned such statements, which embolden law enforcers and foster a culture of abuse and impunity,” the agency said.

A ‘joke’

Dela Rosa downplayed Duterte’s admission that the death squad composed of gangsters sent to kill suspected criminals in Davao City as a “joke.”

“I know 100 percent that he was just joking. He also took it back later on, when he said that the death squad is composed not of police, but of wealthy people in Davao who want to help him,” Dela Rosa said in a Zoom interview with reporters yesterday.

But the former chief PNP admitted that Duterte’s admissions under oath can be used against the former president.

“It can be used against him, especially because he is under oath. It depends on him how he is going to defend himself. He even dared others to file a case against him,” he added.

Dela Rosa said Duterte is more than ready to face charges for his bombshell testimony about the “gangster-led” death squad.

There is no way for Duterte to retract his death squad admissions testified under oath during Monday’s hearing, according to Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, who presided over the investigation.

“We have a lot of material to work with. Let the material stay. Let criminal law experts study very well the material with the committee,” Pimentel said yesterday.

Dela Rosa also defended Duterte from criticisms that he “hijacked” the Senate hearing.

Meanwhile, Pimentel urged retired police colonel Royina Garma and former National Police Commission commissioner Edilberto Leonardo to attend the next Senate hearing so senators can question their testimony at the House’s quad comm hearing about the drug war’s cash reward system.

Reogranize

Pimentel vowed on Tuesday to push for the reorganization of the PNP and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) because of their “inefficiency” in fighting illegal drugs.

In an interview with “Storycon” on One News on Tuesday, Pimentel said the PNP’s reorganization is one of the pieces of legislation that he would push based on results of the investigations of the House quad comm.

“First of all, the PDEA vis-a-vis PNP. When it comes to drugs, it was taken from the PNP and PDEA did the enforcement. Then when PDEA became ‘ineffective,’ it was returned to the PNP. Look at the budget of the PDEA. It is big,” Pimentel said.

He added that the legislation should decide who will handle illegal drug enforcement because of the inefficiencies of the law-enforcing agencies.

Pimentel concluded that it may have been happening to the present members of the PNP because of failures from the Philippine National Police Academy itself.

“What comes into my mind are the lecturers that the PNP is allowing… in the police academy. They must be careful in employing people who are conducting lectures. We cannot allow shady theories from the lecturers to persist in the police academy. Pity the police. Maybe, they are already confused while still in the academy,” Pimentel said.

He also recalled Duterte’s suggestion to look into the PNP’s budget.

“He (Duterte) left a suggestion to us (after the hearing). He told us to look into the budget of the PNP because in the actual operations, at the (police) station level, there was no money. He said law enforcement agencies have no money for the actual operations,” Pimentel said.

“I asked him (Duterte) off-session. I asked, ‘Why on paper, there is a budget?’ He said, ‘Yes. But it stopped in the higher-ups.’ To the lower level, there is none. I told him I will look into that during the budget session,” he added, saying that he will bring up this concern in November. –  Emmanuel Tupas, Jose Rodel Clapano, Janvic Mateo, Marc Jayson Cayabyab