Photo courtesy: Kahimyang Project
LEADERS of the House quad-committee on Friday called on former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his allies to provide evidence that his previous statements about killing drug personalities were intended as jokes or hyperbole.
The call came after the joint panel—composed of the Committees on Dangerous Drugs, Public Order and Safety, Human Rights and Public Accounts—heard testimonies from two convicted hitmen who claimed Duterte had issued kill orders against three Chinese drug lords in 2016.
“This is the right moment for the former administration, especially to its former officials and the former president, to justify that they were correct in saying that the pronouncements of the former president were all jokes or strong words but are not real,” said Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez, who chairs the Public Order and Safety panel.
Fernandez recalled, “We still remember the time when the former President was always saying, ‘Papapatayin kita, maihulog kita sa helicopter’—things like that.”
Back then, Duterte’s officials and allies would often defend him by claiming he was joking or exaggerating.
Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers stressed that the testimonies of inmates Leopoldo “Tata” Tan Jr. and Fernando “Andy” Magdadaro cannot be ignored, especially with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) confirming other inmates are willing to testify about drug war-related killings during the Duterte administration.
“It was PDEA Director General who reached out to us that these people who were sent to prison and convicted who want to testify on extrajudicial killings (EKJs) because of threats during the previous administration,” Barbers said.
“We evaluated the situation and sought legal experts for comments, and we saw that their testimony has value because their testimonies are very serious,” he added.
Barbers chairs the Committee on Dangerous Drugs and is designated overall chair of the quad-committee that is investigating the links between Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), the proliferation of illegal drug trade, the unlawful land acquisitions by Chinese nationals, and the EJKs associated with the Duterte administration’s brutal war on drugs.
During the quad-committee’s second hearing last Thursday, Tan and Magdadaro testified that they killed the three Chinese drug lords at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm under alleged orders from then-President Duterte, shortly after he launched his anti-drug campaign.
According to the inmates, they were promised P1 million for each kill and their freedom, but neither promise was fulfilled after only P2 million was given to them.
