DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 02 November) — Former President Rodrigo Duterte has dismissed the idea of attending a hearing at the House quad committee (quad comm) to answer questions on the conduct of the “war on drugs” during his administration, saying he has said everything during his testimony before the Senate blue ribbon committee’s subcommittee on the “Philippine war on illegal drugs.”
Quad comm refers to the committees on dangerous drugs, public order and safety, human rights and public accounts of the House of Representatives.
“So kung ano ang gusto nilang malaman, tingnan na lang nila ang tape sa proceeding (Senate), makinig na lang sila yun na yun. So, kung meron pa silang bagay na gustong itanong (If they want to know anything, they could just watch the tape of the proceedings. They just have to listen to it. If there’s anything else they want to ask), it must be alien to the main topic,” Duterte said in an interview with the media streamed through the Facebook page FPRRD supporters, at the Wireless Catholic Cemetery here Friday evening.
He said he had already denied the occurrence of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and had no new information to add, and he would only be repeating his testimony during the Senate inquiry if he will attend the quad comm hearing.
“All questions were already asked during my testimony at the Senate. That would be the meat or substance of my testimony. If they want to know if there was extrajudicial killing, I said none…I said there were many deaths, but they weren’t shot,” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
If he received an invitation, Duterte, 79, said that his appearance would depend on his health condition as his body is already weak.
Duterte was invited to appear before the quad comm’s investigation last Oct. 22, “to provide insights and shed light on some issues under discussion,” particularly on the “war on drugs” that claimed thousands of lives during his administration.
However, in a letter dated Oct. 21, the former President declined the invitation, saying he was not feeling well and needed rest after returning to the city on Oct. 17 from Manila where he attended several engagements.
On Monday, October 28, Duterte appeared during the investigation in aid of legislation conducted by the Senate blue ribbon committee’s subcommittee on the “Philippine war on illegal drugs,” where he confessed to have formed a “death squad of seven [members],” composed of “gangsters” and funded by “rich people”.
“Meron akong death squad. Death squad, pito, pero hindi ito mga pulis. Sila rin yung mga gangster. Yung isang gangster utusan ko, ‘Patayin mo yan kay kung hindi mo patayin yan, patayin kita ngayon’ (I have a death squad but they are not police officers… They were gangsters too. I would tell one gangster, ‘Kill that person because if you won’t kill him, I’d rather kill you now’)” Duterte said.
During the House investigation last Oct. 22, former senator Leila De Lima, who investigated the EJKs in Davao as chair of the Commission on Human Rights from 2008 to 2010, detailed the composition of the alleged DDS and its reward system, which may have been the basis for what is referred to as “Davao Model.”
Retired police officer Royina Garma, whom Duterte appointed as general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office in 2019, said that police officers were tapped to replicate the “Davao Model” in the nationwide “war on drugs.”
According to Garma’s affidavit submitted to the quad comm, the “Davao Model” involved three levels of payments or rewards: reward if the suspect is killed, funding of planned operations or COPLANS, and refund of operational expenses.
De Lima said that Duterte, who was then mayor, was the highest leader or mastermind referred to as “the Superman.”
She said that a team of one police handler and three “civilian abanteros” (rebel returnees serving as hitmen) was given an average of three targets every month.
She said DDS was constituted as “Anti-Crime Task Force” from 1988 to 1998 and revived as Heinous Crimes Investigation Section (HCIS) from 2001 to 2016. The unit’s absence between 1998 and 2001 coincided with Duterte’s term as representative of Davao City’s first district.
The HCIS was an official unit under the Davao City Police Office, with office at the Davao City Recreation Center compound (formerly Almendras Gym).
De Lima said DDS members received P10,000 to 20,000 for every victim as reward money but “for special project killings,” the reward could range between P100,000 and P1,000,000, depending on the status of the target.
She said DDS logistics and finances, including weekly gas allowance, monthly cash allowance, and Christmas cash gifts, came from the peace and order or intelligence fund of the former mayor.
During the Senate hearing, Duterte denied the existence of the DDS, which was allegedly composed of police officers, during his term as mayor of Davao.
He, however, admitted that he instructed law enforcers to “encourage” the criminals “to fight back and draw their guns,” so that they could kill them if they resisted arrest.
Senator Risa Hontiveros called out the former president for his statement, telling him it is not the police officers’ mandate to kill.
Duterte responded he did not tell police officers to abuse their power by killing drug suspects “Ano yan sila mga bobo (What are they, stupid)?” he said.
He added the members of his death squad could be all dead by now, and due to his age he “cannot remember their names.”
During the hearing, Duterte, who also served as mayor for 23 years, said the “war on drugs is about the eradication of illegal substances,” including, shabu, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and party drugs.
Asked if he would go back to the Senate if invited, Duterte said, “I’m not good, 74 na po ako, mahina na ang katawan ko (I’m 74 years old, I have a weak body),” feigning a cough in jest afterward.
Responding to a question what more he wanted at the hearing, Duterte said he wanted to be asked more questions the answers to which the people wanted to know.
“I was sitting there as a resource person, I was the one who has the longest experience in governance,” he said.
Before elected President in 2016, Duterte served as mayor from 1988 to 1998, then as the representative of the first district from 1998 to 2001. He returned as mayor from 2001 to 2010, served as vice mayor from 2010 to 2013, and was mayor again from 2013 to 2016.
On October 7, he filed his candidacy for mayor, with his youngest child, incumbent Mayor Sebastian Duterte, as his vice mayor.
On Wednesday, former senator and staunch Duterte critic Antonio Trillanes IV said that the transcript of the Senate hearing, where Duterte admitted to many things about EJKs, has been transmitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Trillanes added that the relevant quad comm transcripts were transmitted earlier and have all been received.
Informed by the media about this, Duterte called Trillanes “bakla” (gay) for doing such, if “he really did that.”
“Maniwala kayo kay Trillanes, ‘yang bakla na yan, walang ginawa yan kundi magdaldal, hindi ko nga sinasagot yang buang na ‘yan (Don’t you believe Trillanes. That gay, he did not do anything but talk, I don’t even reply to him),” he said.
Government records say over 6,000 were killed in anti-drug operations from June 2016 until May 31, 2022, but human rights groups estimate that the death toll may be as high as 30,000.
Then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced that the ICC will conduct a preliminary examination of these deaths in February 2018. The pre-trial investigation began five years later on Sept. 15, 2021—covering crimes allegedly committed in the country between Nov. 1, 2011, the date the Rome Statute became effective in the Philippines, and March 16, 2019. This expands the scope of the investigation beyond the Duterte presidency’s “war on drugs” to also include killings during Duterte’s time as Davao City mayor.
On 17 March 2018, then-President Duterte formally notified the UN Secretary-General that the Philippines was withdrawing from the Rome Statute. The withdrawal became effective on 16 March 2019, a year after its receipt by the UN Secretary General. (Antonio L. Colina IV and Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
