Romualdez: We’re on the right side of history
SPEAKER Martin Romualdez yesterday said the House of Representatives will not stop its ongoing inquiry on extrajudicial killings and the proliferation of illegal drugs during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte despite being subjected to attacks by those who want to stop the quad committee from unearthing the truth.
“And make no mistake – no matter the challenges, no matter the opposition – we will stand our ground,” Romualdez said in his opening speech at the resumption of the plenary session. “We will not yield to intimidation or pressure. We will not be swayed by the attacks hurled against us. Instead, we will press on with even greater resolve, knowing that the people are behind us, that history will remember our courage and that our efforts are guided by the principles of justice and integrity.”
The Speaker said the House is “on the right side of history.” “We are here for the people, for the truth, and for the enduring ideals of this Republic,” he said, adding that those trying to derail the House inquiry “will not succeed in your evil motives because the people are now gradually seeing the light and the truth.”
“Asahan natin na lalo pang titindi ang pag-atake sa ating institusyon. Subalit hindi tayo matitinag. Hindi tayo papayag na muling bumalik ang panahon ng kadiliman at kasamaan (Let’s expect that the attacks against our institution will intensify. But we will not be disupted. We’ll now allow the country to return to darkness and wickedness),” he also said.
The Speaker made the remarks amid the exchanges in the media between the chairmen of the quad committee and Senators Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Christopher “Bong” Go over their roles in the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs.
Dela Rosa, who was the chief implementer of the drug war when he was PNP chief during the early years of the Duterte administration, has been at loggerheads with Sta. Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez, one of the joint panel’s chairmen, who said that the testimony of Police Col. Hector Grijaldo in Senate drug war probe was all part of a “script.”
Fernandez last week lambasted Grijaldo, a member of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group, for telling senators that the lawmaker allegedly ordered the police official to confirm the drug war reward system for cops who killed drug suspects during a private meeting before one of the hearings of the committee.
In response, Dela Rosa said Fernandez concluded that Grijaldo’s testimony was scripted, saying “maybe they’re actually doing that in the quad comm because he was able to quickly make that conclusion.”
For his part, Go defended the war on drugs, saying the House members who are condemning it now were the same ones who applauded Duterte in the past for his taking a strong stance against illegal drugs.
“The Quad Comm and our ‘Young Guns’ have become the target of those who prefer the shadows over the light. They attempt to undermine our work, casting aspersions and spreading false narratives to discredit our pursuit of accountability,” Romualdez said. “Yet, as we stand here today, we reaffirm our commitment to this duty. We are here to do the work without fear or favor, on a mission to uncover the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may be for some.”
He also said: “But history has shown us, time and again, that no force can stand against the truth for long. Evil may cloak itself in power, influence, and wealth, but in the end, it is goodness that triumphs. Truth, though sometimes slow to reveal itself, will always, without fail, prevail.”
He added the quad panel’s hearings “have heightened public awareness, fostering a deepened commitment to transparency and accountability.”
Rep. Jude Acidre (PL, Tingog) said the House expects Duterte to attend the quad comm’s next hearing on Thursday even if Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, the joint panel’s overall chair, has said they have not received a confirmation about his attendance until now.
“I think the fact that we did send an invitation before warrants that that invitation stands. And, of course, as to how the committee has worked in the past, it’s a big thing that the former president is there to air his side,” said Acidre.
NO COMMENT
As demands for the government to run after Duterte following his admissions under oath during last week’s Senate blue ribbon sub-committee hearing, President Marcos Jr. declined to comment on the matter, focusing instead on checking the status of typhoon-hit provinces and his administration’s ongoing response and flood control programs.
“I’m not going (to comment), I don’t want to talk about (it). I need to talk about what’s happened here,” the President said as he shrugged off requests from reporters for him to comment on the former president’s statements during the Senate hearing.
The President was in Laurel, Batangas yesterday, which is one of the provinces badly hit by weather disturbance “Kristine.”
Reporters were trying to get the President’s reaction on Duterte’s admission that he created a death squad when he was mayor of Davao City to kill criminals, especially drug suspects and the former president’s claim that he was taking “full, legal” responsibility for the drug war killings during his presidency.
In the Senate, minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III, chairperson of the blue ribbon sub-panel probing the extrajudicial killings related to the drug campaign, dismissed insinuations that his final report on the issue would be biased in favor of Duterte, stressing that the former president has no influence over him.
“I’m no longer his supporter now… We have our political differences, our past friendship, our past dealings will have zero influence over me. Even our present disputes will also not affect my way of thinking. I will follow evidence,” Pimentel said in an interview with ANC.
It could be recalled that Pimentel and Duterte used to be allies. Duterte ran in the 2016 elections under the banner of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, a political party founded by the late former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
Likewise, Pimentel brushed off criticisms that he gave Duterte too much leeway when he allowed him to speak freely, even curse, during the October 28 hearing.
Pimentel said he allowed Duterte to speak freely since three other resource persons –former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Royina Garma, resigned National Police Commission commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, and self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa – were no-shows during the hearing.
“The former president became the star personality there because he was supposed to share time, the limelight with Garma, Leonardo, the victim families, and even Kerwin. In my mind, there were five segments – former President Duterte, Garma, Leonardo, victim families, and Espinosa. So, what happened, wala yung tatlo (the three were absent) … so I decided to let the former president just get his time,” Pimentel explained.
Besides, he added, he only took advantage of Duterte’s physical attendance since the latter may not be able to attend future hearings, unlike other resource persons who have committed to appear on latter dates.
“So, naging praktikal lang po ako. Nandiyan na sa harap namin ang former president so it must be a rare occasion, and it would be very difficult for the former president to keep on coming back. So, ganoon ang nangyari, I just took advantage pero may time limit naman because we all had our prior commitments that day, so we also had to stop the hearing at a certain time (I was just being practical. The former president was there, it was a rare occasion, and it would be very difficult for him to keep coming back. So, that’s what happened. I took advantage [of Duterte’s presence] but there was a time limit because we all had prior commitments that day, so we had to stop the hearing at a certain time),” he also said.
Fernandez and Manila Rep. Benny Abante have criticized Pimentel for allowing Duterte to freely speak during the hearing, to the point that the former president’s ramblings and cursing were allowed which even Senate President Francis Escudero said was inappropriate.
Pimentel acknowledged that Duterte got away with too much cursing but pointed out that, at one time, he asked him to stop on the request of Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros.
Pimentel said Escudero counted the cursing which happened 21 times during the hearing. “I only tended to allow one. So, nalusutan ako ng 20 (He got away with 20),” he said.
Pimentel said he sees no need to invite Duterte to the next hearing, which has yet to be scheduled, because “he (Duterte) cannot be the source of all information. That’s why we really need to do some investigating ourselves.”
‘SERIOUS’
While Duterte’s allies said that most of the former president’s statements during the Senate hearing should be considered as “jokes,” Pimentel said the panel will treat his admissions as “serious.”
“Unless he qualified the sentence as ‘the following sentence is a joke,’ then we will really treat it like a joke. But if it’s not qualified as a joke, that is an under-oath statement,” he said.
During last week’s hearing, Duterte openly admitted that when he was Davao City mayor, he formed a seven-man hit squad composed of the city’s rich men to kill criminals on his orders.
The death squad, he also said, included his former chiefs of police, a statement which Dela Rosa said should be treated as a joke. Dela Rosa was a former police chief of Davao City.
Duterte also told senators that he even instructed policemen to provoke drugs suspects and other criminals to violently resist arrest to justify their killings.
He also said that he has killed lots of people, and even wondered loudly why no cases have been filed against him.
Pimentel said the transcript of the hearing and non-confidential documents submitted during the hearing are available to interested parties, including the International Criminal Court, where Duterte and Dela Rosa have been charged with crimes against humanity in connection with the past administration’s bloody war on drugs.
“If they want certified true copies because they need this for legal purposes, we will also give them certified true copies,” he added.
KIAN BILL
Members of the House joint panel have so far filed two bills: House Bill (HB) No. 10986, or the “Anti-Extrajudicial Killing Act,” and HB 10987, or the “Anti-Offshore Gaming Operations Act.”
The “Anti-Extrajudicial Killing Act” explicitly classifies extrajudicial killing as a heinous crime, ensuring that anyone, regardless of rank or position, found guilty of such acts faces appropriate criminal penalties.
The “Anti-Offshore Gaming Operations Act,” on the other hand, aims for a total ban on all forms of offshore gaming operations in the country, with penalties for violations.
For his part, Rep. Perci Cendaña (PL, AKbayan) filed House Bill No. 11104, or the “Kian Bill,” pushing for a humane and health-based approach to address the drug menace while by penalizing “tokhang-like” activities such as coming up with drug lists, tortures of drugs suspects, unlawful police interference, and other cruel methods used in the drug war,
“Oplan Tokhang” was the name of the PNP’s anti-drug campaign which involved house-to-house visits of a suspected drug addicts to persuade them to surrender.
“The Kian bill prevents the killing of more innocent Kians,” said Cendaña, referring to 17-year-old Kian delos Santos who was killed in an anti-drug operation in 2017.
The Kian bill also has a counterpart measure in the upper house filed by Hontiveros.
Under the bill, mandatory drug testing in schools, workplaces and other public or privates places “are hereby prohibited.” “No drug testing shall be conducted as requirement for admission or enrolment in schools and other alternative learning institutions, as well as made a condition for employment or renewal of business permit, license or franchise.”
The measure proposes to penalize public officers found guilty of committing the prohibited acts by suspending them from work without pay or perpetually disqualifying them from holding office. – With Jocelyn Montemayor and Raymond Africa
