Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILABULLETIN)

The senators want a separate, parallel investigation on the previous Duterte administration's war on illegal drugs, but Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers thinks he can do them one better. 

Barbers bared in a press briefing Monday, Oct. 21 his proposal to conduct a "bicam investigation" between the House of Representatives and the Senate--something that he said was unprecedented. 

"Ang opinyon ko, eh kung meron ang Senate, meron din ang House, ba't di na lang natin pag-isahin parang bicam ang dating? Isang joint committee hearing. Nandyan ang Kongreso, nandyan ang Senado, at nandyan ang ating imbestigasyon," he said. 

(My opinion is, if the Senate has an inquiry and so does the House? Why don't we just combine them like a bicam? A joint committee hearing. We have the House, we have the Senate, and we our investigation.) 

Barbers is the overall chairman of the House quad-committee (quad-comm), which has been conducting marathon hearings on the Duterte drug war and extrajudicial killings (EJKs) linked to it. 

The explosive revelations in the House inquiry the past few weeks have seemingly forced the other legislative chamber, the Senate, carry out its own parallel probe. 

But Barbers believes that a bicam inquiry is the way to go. 

"I think mas malawak, mas komprehensibo, at syempre mas maraming mga intelligent questions na maitatanong," he said. 

(I think this has a wider coverage and is more comprehensive, and of course a lot more intelligent questions can be asked. 

"So it has to be some sort of joint [session]," said the Nacionalista Party (NP) stalwart, who likened his proposal to a State of the Nation Address (SONA)-type set-up wherein the solons from both chambers are together. 

"Ganun din gawin natin, tingin ko mas maganda (Let's also do that, I think it would be better)," he added. 

Former president Rodrigo Duterte's aggressive anti-narcotics campaign last from 2016 to 2022. Critics of this campaign claimed that over 30,000 people died during this period. 

The House was the first to carry out any sort of inquiry on this alleged bloodbath this year.