Congress to respect Duterte’s decision on attending EJK probe

By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora, Philippine News Agency

At the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City, House Committee on Dangerous Drugs chair and Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said Duterte will not be cited in contempt “in deference to him being the former president.” (File Photo: KING RODRIGUEZ/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

MANILA – The House quad committee (Quadcom) will respect former president Rodrigo Duterte’s decision should he decline its invitation to appear before the joint investigation on perceived extrajudicial killings (EJKs) during the campaign against illegal drugs under his administration.

At the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City, House Committee on Dangerous Drugs chair and Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said Duterte will not be cited in contempt “in deference to him being the former president.”

“In deference to the former president, we will accord him the courtesy and respect diyan sa pagtanggi niya sa pagdalo (if he will decline the invitation). But, if he will attend, accept our invitation, we will be more than honored to accommodate the former president,” he said.

The same courtesy will not be extended to other government officials, according to Barbers.

“Mayroong karampatang penalty under our rules na puwedeng gamitin ng committee para parusahan ang tumatanggi sa aming (There is a corresponding penalty under our rules that we can impose on those who will brush off the) committee,” he said.

The former president was invited to address the allegations implicating him in the 2016 killings of three convicted Chinese drug lords inside the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Davao Del Norte.

Inmates Leopoldo Tan Jr. and Fernando Magdadaro previously testified that they were approached by law enforcement officers connected to the Duterte administration and instructed to carry out the killings in exchange for their freedom.

At the time, the Chinese were serving sentences for their involvement in illegal drug activities.

Barbers said the invitation to attend the EJK probe has already been sent to Duterte but there is no reply yet.

“If the evidence will point to him still and then we come to a point where the committee will write a committee report, we will probably include a lot of personalities in the report,” he said.

“Kami naman ay nagbe-base lang kami sa hawak naming testimonya, hawak naming dokumento at iba pang ebidensya na hawak namin (For us here, we just base on the testimonies, documents and other pieces of evidence that we have),” he added.

Once concluded, he said the Quadcom would refer the results of the investigation to appropriate agencies and court to conduct a deeper probe.

The House leadership created the Quadcom, composed of the Committees on Dangerous Drugs, Human Rights, Public Order and Safety, and Public Accounts, as they are separately conducting investigations on POGOs, EJKs and illegal drugs with the same resource persons and similar or interrelated subjects.