MANILA, Philippines — Mere denials cannot overturn the testimonial as well as documentary evidence linking officials of the previous administration to the alleged extrajudicial killings in Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, congressmen said yesterday.
Key members of the House of Representatives’ four-committee panel known as the quad comm – chairmen Dan Fernandez of Sta. Rosa City in Laguna, Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte and Bienvenido Abante Jr. of Manila – said the cash reward system in the anti-drug campaign has been documented.
Fernandez said at least two witnesses – retired police colonel and former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Royina Garma and police Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido – testified that a scheme of payouts to those who killed drug suspects existed.
“Not only did it exist; it was managed by higher-ups, meaning by Malacañang,” Fernandez, chairman of the House committee on public order and safety, said, referring to the Duterte administration.
“The evidence so far unearthed in the quad comm belies Senators Bato (Ronald dela Rosa) and (Bong) Go’s denials of EJK involvement and existence of the reward system that was public knowledge during the previous administration, particularly in the Philippine National Police (PNP),” Fernandez added.
Barbers, lead chair of the quad comm and chair of the House committee on dangerous drugs, cited Espenido’s testimony that millions, or perhaps billions, in reward money “flowed from the level of Sen. Bong Go, a close aide of former president Duterte.”
Quoting Espenido, Barbers said the reward system was funded by money from jueteng and other illegal gambling activities, intelligence funds, PCSO’s notorious small-town lottery (STL) operations and POGOs.
“Our impression is that the intelligence funds came from the Office of the President and the PNP. When these funds are audited, we will find out who is telling the truth or lying,” said Barbers.
In the case of money from POGO, jueteng and STL operators, Abante, co-chair and head of the House committee on human rights, stressed that it is evident that “these funds indeed flowed from the top.”
Abante pointed out that the testimony establishes that in 2016, Dela Rosa and Go were seen in Duterte’s meeting in Davao City with senior police officers, including Garma and retired police colonel and resigned National Police Commission Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo.
According to him, witnesses said the “the Davao City EJK template and reward system was discussed during the meeting. A few weeks later, the assassination of drug suspects in police operations and by riding-in-tandem hired guns started. It is not difficult to connect the dots.”
Quad invites Duterte, Bato, GoFernandez added that the quad comm’s invitation to former president Rodrigo Duterte to appear before its investigation is “open-ended,” as it will be up to Duterte to decide if he will attend the hearing.
“Our invitation to former president Duterte is open-ended, being the former president. It is up to them to attend. There is a parliamentary courtesy. We cannot avoid that tradition. They may not attend the quad comm hearing,” Fernandez said.
He added the quad comm will also accord Senators Dela Rosa and Go the same parliamentary courtesy, being lawmakers of the upper chamber.
Fernandez likewise opposed proposals for the quad comm to share its findings with the International Criminal Court (ICC), given the fact that the country is no longer a member-state.
“I have made an earlier pronouncement that since we are no longer with the ICC, I will surely disagree,” Fernandez said.
He said the ICC can get the documents, especially since those are public documents, through their own initiative without any help from quad comm or the national government.
“It’s up to them if they will get our records. It is public anyway. They can get it. But for us to apply to ICC, I, myself, I will surely disagree with that. It’s up to them,” Fernandez said.
‘Quad won’t share evidence with ICC’Dela Rosa laughed off claims that the House quad comm has solid evidence against him, based on the exposé of a former police officer on the Duterte administration’s anti-drug war.
“He he he. I will wait for that evidence,” dela Rosa said in a text message to The STAR when sought for comment on claims of the House quad comm that it has “established concrete evidence” against him and several others.
Dela Rosa, the first PNP chief under Duterte’s administration, denied having a hand in the cash reward system for policemen under a “Davao model” of the drug war, as alleged by Garma.
“I have no idea on that. There was none,” Dela Rosa said.
And while he welcomed the Palace’s rejection to submit a House quad comm report to the ICC, Dela Rosa pointed out that the executive and the legislative are co-equal branches.
“Are you sure? Does he have control over the House, which is a co-equal branch? Does he have control over the Speaker?” dela Rosa said in a phone interview with The STAR.
Malacañang rejected proposals for President Marcos to submit a House quad committee report to the ICC, which is investigating the previous administration’s war on drugs.
Dela Rosa said: “At least, if you are really to believe what the Palace said, it’s good news. It’s nice to hear that. But he didn’t control the House. But being the chief architect of the foreign policies, when it comes to such engagements, it will really go through him (President Marcos), but then again, we don’t know what the House will do.”
Parallel probeSenate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III has backed the proposal of Sen. Bong Go for the upper chamber to conduct an investigation into the previous administration’s brutal war on drugs.
“That is optional, but looks like a good idea to me, because it will give us the opportunity to ask questions and cross examine to test the credibility of the witnesses,” Pimentel said yesterday.
The Senate may even invite new witnesses to shed light on the alleged state-sanctioned killings of drug suspects during the previous administration, Pimentel said.
Go volunteered to file a resolution seeking a parallel investigation into the violent narcotics crackdown waged by his boss, former president Duterte. Go served as Duterte’s special assistant in Malacañang.
Go’s fellow Duterte ally, Dela Rosa, is chairman of the Senate public order and dangerous drugs committee, which could have jurisdiction over a possible Senate drug war probe.
EJK as heinous crimeMeanwhile, Congress wants President Marcos to certify as urgent the proposed bill to make extrajudicial killings (EJKs) a heinous crime, Rep. Fernandez said yesterday.
“We have already filed the bill a few days ago. We hope that the bill will be certified as urgent by the President. We want those things that happened not to happen again,” Fernandez told Storycon on One News.
Fernandez said the proposed EJK heinous crime bill will be read before the plenary once Congress’ session resumes in November after the All Saints Day break.
“We will be resuming our session by November after Undas. And then it will be read before the plenary and it will be referred to the rules for a referral to a specific committee,” Fernandez said.
He said congressmen will conduct discussion on the proposed EJK heinous crime bill to scrutinize it. “Then after the discussion in the committee, we will put it back to the plenary. We want it to be certified as urgent by the President. So that these incidents will not be repeated,” Fernandez said.
Tanauan mayor slayThe PNP is currently investigating the possible involvement of a police officer in the 2018 killing of former Tanauan, Batangas mayor Antonio Halili, who was reportedly shot by a sniper during morning flag-raising ceremonies.
The probe comes after Garma mentioned a certain “Major Albotra” as having knowledge of the assassination. However, no first name was provided during the hearing.
The PNP subsequently reviewed its records and identified five individuals with the surname Albotra, four of whom had already retired. PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said that Capt. Kenneth Albotra is the only active officer among them.
She stated that Capt. Albotra, who was assigned to Police Regional Office 7 at the time of the incident, has denied any involvement in the murder.
“The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group will continue to investigate the case, including a review of all related cold case files and further interviews with relevant parties,” Fajardo said. “We are also in the process of retrieving case records and examining new evidence.”
The PNP has not placed Albotra under any form of restriction, pending the results of the ongoing probe.
Amid the allegations of a war on drugs reward system in the PNP, Military Ordinariate of the Philippines Bishop Oscar Jaime Florencio tells aspiring police officers may the “good force” be with you.
“To those who are aspiring to be part of the police force, be sure to have that conviction that you are ready to serve the country, serve God, serve our people, our community and also to the best of your values,” Florencio said yesterday over Radio Veritas.
“You have to have that forcecebuwin, not ‘evil force’ but the ‘good force’ that is in you. The good intention, the good values that you have embraced,” the bishop added. – Evelyn Macairan, Mark Ernest Villeza, Jose Rodel Clapano, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Marc Jayson Cayabyab