The Quad Committee has established the fact that there were extrajudicial killings which occurred during the administration of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (FPRRD).
This is due to the testimonies of Superintendent Gerardo Padilla, Leopoldo Tan, Andy Magdadaro and Jimmy Fortaleza who figured in the killing of three Chinese drug lords in the Davao Penal Colony. Former Police Colonel Royina Garma was also implicated in the killing of the said Chinese nationals.
In an interview, the Chairman of the Quad Comm, Cong. Ace Barbers, was asked whether there is enough evidence to point to FPRRD as the person ultimately responsible for the extrajudicial killings. Barbers replied that there have been links through association or by implication, but no direct evidence is presented yet to pin the killings to Duterte. However, he said it cannot be ignored that FPRRD has made numerous pronouncements on his policy on the war on drugs and the deliberate killings of drug suspects.
Barbers also said that in the proper time, FPRRD will be invited to attend the Quad Comm hearing so that he may be given the opportunity to defend himself, if he chooses to do so. However, FPRRD will not be cited in contempt in case he chooses not to attend as a basic courtesy to the former chief executive.
The Quad Comm’s next task is to dig deeper into the hierarchy of the orders to kill drug suspects. In the opinion of the Quad Comm, there are bigger fishes to be discovered as the masterminds behind the killings. Who is at the top of these orders? Cong. Barbers said that possibly, it could be the former PNP chiefs during FPRRD’s time, considering that Garma would not have acted on her own and without orders from her superiors. The last piece of the puzzle would be who ordered these PNP chiefs to execute the killings?
Other than the actual killings is the question on who funded these attacks, the Quad Comm also revealed that they have received information that during FPRRD’s presidency from 2016 to 2022, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) gave the PNP at least P600 million, which was flagged by the Commission on Audit since the donation of money had no report on how it was used. Notably, Col. Garma also served as general manager of PCSO from July 15, 2019 up to June 6, 2022.
Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido has previously revealed during a Quad Comm hearing that there exists a quota and a reward system to carry out the war on drugs. Police officers who arrest or kill drug suspects are given reward money for their efforts and that there was a set number of arrests or killings that should be made per day. Was the undocumented money from the PCSO used to fund the war on drugs and enrich the pockets of those responsible for the killings?
The common factor on all of these revelations made during the Quad Comm hearings is that all roads lead to FPRRD. It is only a matter of time before it is revealed to the public that Duterte was the mastermind and architect of the extrajudicial killings condoned during his presidency. He wasn’t shy about his policy of killing drug suspects and now, he should face the music.
