FAMILIES of the victims of extrajudicial killings made in the name of the drug war of the Duterte administration can use the statements made by former President Rodrigo Duterte under oath during Monday’s Senate sub-committee blue ribbon hearing to finally get justice for what happened to their loved ones, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero said yesterday.
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros and Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante shared the same sentiment in separate interviews yesterday.
During the “Kapihan sa Senado” media forum, Escudero called on families of the victims of the war on drugs to pursue cases against the former president so they can get justice and not be satisfied that they have said their pieces during the Senate hearing.
He said the transcript of the Senate hearing can easily be accessed by interested parties as this is a public document, and thus would be available on the website of the upper chamber.
“…Kung mapapansin niyo karamihan ng sinasabi nya kahapon (Monday) eh sinasabi din naman nya noong siya ay pangulo pa, para namang walang bago di ba? Ang pagkakaiba lang noong sinasabi nya noon nung presidente man sya o pagkatapos nya maging presidente o bago sya naging president, bago sya naging mayor, ito ay sinabi sa isang talumpati o sa isang interview. Ang pinagkaiba kahapon (Monday) lahat ng binitiwan niyang salita kahapon ay under oath, pinanumpaan at sinabi nya, ‘yan ay totoo sa abot ng kanyang nalalaman na pwedeng magamit kung saka-sakali pabor o laban sa kanya. Yun ang malaking pagkakaiba (If you noticed, most of what he said [last Monday] were already said when he was still president, and it seems there was nothing new. He has said them before, during and after his presidency, in public speeches and interviews. The only difference now is he said them again under oath, which he averred to be the truth to the best of his knowledge. These can now be used in favor or against him. That’s the big difference),” he said.
During the hearing of the blue ribbon sub-committee last Monday, Duterte claimed “full, legal and moral” responsibility for the shortcomings of his administration’s campaign against illegal drugs, including the killing of drug suspects, which he admitted he encouraged by telling cops to provoke resistance to justify shootouts or killings.
He also admitting to having a seven-man “death squad” in Davao City which he said he tapped to “silence” criminals, especially those involved in the illegal drugs trade.
He also said that when he taught police cadets, he told them it was okay to pull the trigger on suspects if they feel that their safety is in danger.
Escudero said Duterte’s allies cannot claim that the former president was only “joking” when he made the statements since, being a lawyer himself, he knew that he said these under oath and that these could be used against him in legal proceedings.
“I think he is proud of the things he did and said. Hindi niya ikinahihiya ang kaniyang ginawa at sinabi. Maliwanag ‘yung kanyang statement kahapon (Monday). Ang sinabi niya kahapon (Monday) ay, ‘I am willing to take full responsibility, me, just me.’ Paano mo i-o-operationalize ‘yun na ako lang? So, siguro paraan ito ni Pangulong Duterte para i-operationalize ‘yun. Kaya siguro matapang niyang hinaharap, sinasagot at inaamin ang mga bagay na ‘yan (I think he is proud of the things that he said and did. He was not ashamed with what he did and said. That was very clear in his statements yesterday [Monday]. He said, ‘I am willing to take full responsibility, me, just me.’ How will he operationalize it? Maybe that is his way to operationalize it, that’s why he bravely faced and answered, and admitted to those things),” Escudero said.
“Siguro kaya malakas ang loob niya kahapon (Monday) ay dahil gusto na niya akuin na yung responsibilidad dahil sa hinaba-haba na ng panahon, ang nakulong, ang tinanggal sa serbisyo ay yung mababang pulis at hindi yung mga nasa taas, nag-utos man o hindi (Maybe he already wanted to own up to [the crimes that he committee] because the low-ranked policemen have been jailed, dismissed from service and not the high officials who came out with the instructions),” he added.
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros said Duterte should be made accountable after he owned up under oath to being responsible for his administration’s war on drugs.
“Dapat managot muna si dating Pangulong Duterte sa batas ng tao, bago ang parusa ng impyerno. Tutal, inako naman niya ang responsibilidad sa madugong war on drugs na nagresulta sa pagkamatay ng libu-libong Pilipino (Former President Duterte should first be made accountable under the law of the people before he rots in hell since he owned full responsibility on his bloody war on drugs which led to the deaths of thousands of Filipinos),” she said.
She said only people like Duterte “without soul” and with a “hardened heart” would allow extrajudicial killings.
“Kung sino pa ang abogado, siya pa ang hindi makaintindi (Duterte is a lawyer, but he has not respect for the rule of law),” she added, adding that while illegal drugs and other crimes are real problems of a country, resorting to extrajudicial killings especially involving innocent lives or the defenseless “is not the solution” no matter how the former president defends his position on it.
She said the Department of Justice and the International Criminal Court (ICC) should take note of Duterte’s confessions under oath, including the creation of a death squad, convincing police officials to kill certain individuals, and “encouraging” suspects to fight back to they can be summarily killed.
Abante said such admissions in the Senate only proves that Duterte is guilty of “crimes against humanity,” the complaint he is facing before the ICC.
Abante said the admissions “could open the doors for legal action both domestically and internationally like the ICC.” “We have taken one step closer to holding Duterte accountable, but this is not the end. I urge our justice system to respond swiftly, to file charges, to conduct investigations, and to ensure that justice is served. The blood of thousands cries out for justice, and we owe it to every Filipino to answer that call,” he said.
He said that under Republic Act No. (RA) 9851, or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity, “Duterte’s admission meets all the elements of command responsibility for crimes against humanity.”
“When a leader knowingly permits the slaughter of civilians under his watch, and when he admits that he bears responsibility, it is an inescapable truth: he is criminally liable,” Abante said.
“This is not a case of semantics or vague responsibility – this is a direct admission from the former President himself. By publicly taking full respons ibility for the thousands of extrajudicial killings that plagued our nation during his term, Duterte has admitted to a level of command responsibility that the law considers criminal,” he added.
Section 10 of RA 9851 establishes the principle of command responsibility, which holds superiors liable for crimes committed by their subordinates if they had knowledge of the crimes and failed to take necessary actions to prevent or repress them.
Abante further explained that the killings conducted in the bloody war on drugs meet all the elements of willful killing as a crime against humanity under Section 6 of RA 9851.
“Ako’y nagpapasalamat sa ating former president na at least naging honest siya, inamin niya (I’m thankful to our former president for at least being honest. He admitted it),” Abante said.
Sta. Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez agreed that Duterte’s acceptance of full responsibility for the drug campaign makes him liable under Section 8 of RA 9851. “Him being the superior authority of the land during his incumbency, he bears responsibility under Section 8 of Republic Act 9851,” he said.
Human rights lawyer Chel Diokno said Duterte’s “shocking admission” to organizing a death squad is a “damning evidence” that can be used against him in court.
“It is very damning evidence because he made those statements under oath and those are what we call extrajudicial admissions. That is coming from the horse’s mouth. It is the best kind of evidence because it doesn’t come from someone else. It came directly from the former president,” Diokno said in a television interview.
He said Duterte’s testimony provides strong proof of his actions during his time as Davao City mayor and president “which could be used as evidence in court.”
CIVILIZED SOCIETY
Escudero said Duterte, who is also a lawyer, disregarded the law by punishing criminals with death since it is stated in the Constitution that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of law.”
He said that while he understands Duterte is against illegal drugs, he should have given the suspects the due process of law.
“Hindi mo puwede ilagay sa kamay mo ang batas. Kahit nga yung gobyerno hindi nilalagay sa kamay niya ang batas, dinadaan niya sa proseso. A civilized government can do nothing less than to provide and ensure due process to anyone and everyone, gaano man kasama, gaano man kabigay sa dibdib natin (You cannot put the law into your own hands. Even the government observes that as it goes through the process. A civilized government can do nothing less than to provide and ensure due process to anyone and everyone, no matter how evil a person is and no matter how it burdens us),” he said.
“A civilized society does not operate that way. And I believe that we are a civilized society,” Escudero said.
He said it is easy for someone to say that criminals do not deserve due process of the law, but its value will be realized when the tables are turned.
FACE US – QUAD COMM
Abante yesterday said Duterte has no more excuse not to attend the next hearing of the House quad committee following the admissions he made before the Senate blue ribbon sub-committee.
“If he was physically well to attend the Senate inquiry on Monday, he should have no excuse to skip our next hearing,” he told a joint press conference with Fernandez.
While he was able to attend the Senate hearing last Monday, Duterte earlier begged off from attending the quad committee’s last hearing on October 22 with his lawyer, Martin Delgra III, saying his client had just returned to Davao City from Manila last October 17 and was “currently not feeling well and is in need of much rest.
Delgra, however, has told the House joint panel that the former president is willing to attend the hearing if it will be held after November 1, All Saints Day.
“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,” Abante said. “Maraming reklamo laban sa kanya at sa kanyang drug war implementers, pati ang kanyang PNP chief, si Sen. (Ronald) Bato dela Rosa. Nasa record ng quad comm ‘yan, kaya gusto naming marinig ang panig nila. (There are a lot of complaints against him and his drug war implementers, including his former PNP chief, Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa. It’s in the records of the quad comm that’s why we want to hear their side).”
Abante said the quad committee did the right thing and observed due process by first hearing the testimonies of aggrieved parties or the relatives of drug war victims and waiting for Duterte to air his side.
“’Yun ang tamang proseso, hindi yung mauuna ‘yung depensa sa reklamo (That’s the correct process. The defense shoudln’t precede the complaints),” said the pastor-lawmaker.
Upon the insistence of Dela Rosa and Duterte’s former close aide Sen. Lawrence “Bong” Go and Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, the Senate investigating panel chaired by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel lll gave priority to Duterte’s opening statement before hearing the complaints of the families and relatives of victims of EJKs.
Abante said Duterte’s “binding” admission of the existence of a death squad in Davao City affirms the testimonies given to the joint panel that Duterte and those who implemented the drug war adopted the “Davao model” as the template in carrying out the nationwide campaign which killed thousands of drug suspects and innocent civilians.
He reiterated his call for the DOJ and the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) to file charges against the former chief executive to hold him accountable for the killings.
‘INHIBIT YOURSELVES’
Fernandez, who chairs the House Committee on Public Order and Safety, called on Dela Rosa and Go to inhibit themselves from the Senate probe, saying their participation will only compromise its integrity.
“I am appealing to their sense of delicadeza, since based on the numerous pieces of evidence our quad committee has unearthed in its comprehensive inquiry into the anti-drug campaign of the previous administration, they are the principal implementers of the brutal campaign against drugs,” he said, adding that Dela Rosa and Go “cannot be expected to participate in the Senate inquiry in an impartial and unbiased manner.”
The House leader called on Escudero and Pimentel to advise their two colleagues to steer clear of the Senate investigation.
“We believe in the sense of fairness of SP Escudero and Sen. Pimentel and the impartiality of their investigation. However, we believe that the inquiry will be tainted if Senators Ddela Rosa and Go continue to get themselves involved in it,” he said.
Citing the testimonies of witnesses given to the quad committee, Fernandez said Dela Rosa, as then PNP chief, was the overall in charge of the campaign, while Go, based on testimonies of retired senior police officers, was allegedly in charge o f the reward system, under which up to P1 million was paid to every rogue policeman or hired gun responsible for the killing of every high-value drug suspects.
“In those roles, they are directly or indirectly responsible for the tens of thousands of drug suspects and innocent people, including young children, killed in the course of the Duterte administration’s anti-drug war,” he said.
Abante also assailed Dela Rosa for taking advantage of the hearing to defend himself for his role in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs and justify the killings.
“The way he (Dela Rosa) sounded, he was more of a senator-suspect or senator-respondent. There was nothing wrong with that, but he should have seated himself with his former boss, who wanted to be called a witness instead of a resource person. That would have been more appropriate than sitting with the investigating panel in order to defend his actions,” Abante said.
Abante pointed out, however, that unlike Duterte, “Dela Rosa did not take an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
“The validity of what seemed to be his interminable explanations and defenses was also not subjected to questioning. No one questioned him, no one challenged his version of that facts nor his assertions,” he said.
Abante said Dela Rosa even enlisted the help of three or four of his successors as PNP chief to explain the use of the words “neutralization” and “negate” in the command circular he issued in 2016 on carrying out the war on drugs.
“It is only now that they are explaining this vague language, which policemen, based on testimonies given to quad comm, interpreted to mean the killing of suspects. One former PNP chief even opined that it meant ‘huwag patayin kaagad (don’t immediately kill a drug suspect),” he said.
DEMOLITION JOB?
Fernandez lambasted Police Col. Hector Grijaldo, of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group, for telling senators that he allegedly ordered the police official to confirm the drug war reward system during a private meeting before one of the hearings of the quad committee.
“Well, that’s their script, it’s up to them. Well, he should uphold what he said and its possible repercussions because for me, we will not take that sitting down. Of course, he said in his affidavit that he was coerced and harassed. That’s a huge accusation. And now we will do something, and this will be collective,” Fernandez said.
He said the allegations could be a demolition job aimed at attacking him and Abante to discredit the joint panel and its proceedings.
He also stated that the accusations were unfair to the quad committee members since the meeting was called upon the request of former police Lt. Col. Royina Garma, who confirmed the reward system along with former police Col. Edilberto Leonardo.
“Unang-una, talagang there was an incident na talagang pinatawag namin siya pero (First of all, there was really an incident when we called him but) not on our own volition,” he said, adding that the meeting is part of the vetting process and included other individuals such as Abante and two of Garma’s lawyers to ensure transparency.
Fernandez said he was even surprised that Grijaldo attended the quad committee hearing when lawmakers did not formally invite him as a resource person right before Garma testified.
“Noong bago mag-testify si Col. Garma (Before Col. Garma testified), he was there. He was there and he wasn’t even invited. Nagulat na lamang ako nandun siya at hindi ko siya kilala (I was surprised that he was there, and I didn’t even know him),” he said.
“Nagugulat kami na nakikisawsaw siya sa isang bagay na hindi naman siya involved (We were surprised that he was meddling when he wasn’t even involved),” he added.
Fernandez surmised that Grijaldo’s allegations against him resulted from his mention of the name of Dela Rosa’s son during the October 22 hearing of the quad panel when he quizzed police Lt. Col. Bryan Andulan about his alleged involvement in the assassination of Los Baños, Laguna mayor Caesar Perez.
He said that when he asked Andulan what his relationship with Dela Rosa was, the police officer told him that he was assigned to the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA).
“Ang PNPA, during that time, ‘yung anak ni Gen. Bato was in school, first year as plebe, so ‘yun ang sinabi ko ‘yun ang relasyon mo (Gen. Bato’s son was in school there on his first year as a plebe so I said, ‘that’s your relationship (with Dela Rosa),” he said. “And then suddenly, (humaba) na ‘yung issue. Binanatan niya na ako (And then suddenly, there was an issue. He started hitting me).”
Fernandez also reacted to Duterte’s threat to file a complaint against him for subornation of perjury, saying he is prepared to confront legal challenges stemming from the quad committee hearings.
“And if this is the way that we need to act on certain things that happened, then we will confront the issue,” said the actor-turned-lawmaker.
