Toying with the Senate

I want to know if there is a point to all this. I’m talking about the Senate hearings on extrajudicial killings where no less than the architect of the bloody war on drugs, former president Rodrigo Duterte, was invited as a resource person. The hearings were prompted by the statements of Royina Garma, former Davao police officer, former PNP chief in Cebu City, and former general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) with regards to being complicit in the murder of a PCSO official and her revelation that a reward system for persons killed by the police was in place during the term of Duterte. The investigation is so flawed on many levels.

Case in point, Senator Ronald Dela Rosa made the call for the Senate to investigate the killings. This immediately raised questions about why he would lead the investigation when, as the former PNP chief under the Duterte administration, he was tasked to carry out the former’s bloody orders. He would practically be investigating himself. Of course, he refused to inhibit. Then Duterte shows up at the Senate and starts talking. He says the quiet part out loud about having a death squad when he was mayor of Davao City, but then said they were comprised of criminals who killed criminals and not police officers. But he then says he encouraged police officers to encourage criminals to fight back so they are justified in killing them. That’s like handing over a gun to someone and encouraging them to point it at a police officer. That may have been the case in many killings.

Duterte, in his usual expletive-laden speech, said he takes full responsibility for the killings that happened while he was president from 2016 to 2022 but said he wasn’t responsible for the death of Kian Delos Santos. It’s as if he was toying with the Senate where he has staunch allies. We all know that Senators Go, Dela Rosa, and Padilla carry water for him, so he is pretty much protected. And why is he allowed to speak in such a vile manner? If that were anyone else, they would have been held in contempt.

All of Duterte’s statements were made under oath. I don’t care about Dela Rosa’s defense of Duterte saying he was only joking at times. He taunts everyone about filing cases against him, even continuing his rhetoric about killing people. This is a serious matter. Duterte’s pronouncements are now public record, so what is the government waiting for? Perhaps it is time to do so. If not, like I said in the beginning, what’s the point?