THE House quad committee will recommend administrative and criminal charges against at least 10 individuals when it presents to the plenary its initial committee report on its investigation into former President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte’s bloody war on drugs and the criminal activities linked to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), the overall chair of the panel said yesterday.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, however, declined to say if the former president will be among the 10 people, saying the list is “going to be a surprise.”
He said the four committees intend to submit the report by the last day of session on December 18.
Barbers said the 10 individuals include both retired and active public servants.
“All our recommendations, assuming we will recommend the filing of criminal and administrative cases, will involve active, retired, and recently retired. All that will be included in our recommendations,” he said.
He also declined to provide specific details about the charges to be recommended by the joint panel, saying doing so will make it easy for the public to determine the personalities “so I will keep it to myself for the moment.”
The panel lead chair said the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Office of the Ombudsman, and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) would be part of the progress report.
Barbers said the mega panel would also propose 15 pieces of remedial legislation based on the findings during the course of the tedious 12-hearing investigation.
Among the remedial pieces of legislation that the quad comm chairmen and members have filed are the bills seeking to define extrajudicial killing as a heinous crime and imposing the maximum penalty on offenders.
Another measure is one that proposes the creation of an inter-agency government committee to be led by the Philippine Statistics Authority that would expedite the administrative cancellation of questionable birth certificates.
The measure was filed after lawmakers discovered during the lengthy hearings that several Chinese nationals have acquired Filipino citizenships using fake birth certificates which they used to illegally establish businesses in the country and acquire properties.
The Chinese citizens even formed corporations and purchased land and buildings which they used for illegal activities, including a warehouse in Barangay San Jose Malino in Mexico town, Pampanga, where authorities seized a shabu shipment worth P3.6 billion in September 2023.
Barbers said there are about four bills filed seeking amendments to Republic Act No. 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, following the revelations in the hearings on how the Duterte administration’s war on drugs was implemented.
He said the plenary may even ask President Marcos Jr. to include the measures in his priority legislative agenda or to certify them as urgent so Congress could expedite their approval.
