Former President Rodrigo Duterte (left) and Davao del Norte 1st district Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez (Toto Lozano/Presidential Photo)

Davao del Norte 1st district Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, a staunch ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte, says members of Congress are also responsible to the “blood spilled” during the previous administration’s controversial war on drugs.

In a fiery statement on Tuesday, Oct. 22, the former House Speaker slammed the “glaring hypocrisy” of the lawmakers probing Duterte’s bloody drug war.

“Hindi mangyayari ang war on drugs kung hindi ito suportado ng taong bayan at pinayagan ng Kongreso noong 17th at 18th Congress. Karamihan ng mga miyembro ng kamara noon, nandito pa rin sa 19th Congress,” said Alvarez.

(The war on drugs would not have happened if it was not supported by the people and allowed by Congress in the 17th and 18th Congress. Most of the members of the chamber then, are still here in the 19th Congress.)

“Kung guilty si dating Pangulong Duterte, iisa lang ang ibig sabihin niyan: guilty rin ang Kongreso,” he stressed.

(If former President Duterte is guilty, that only means one thing: Congress is also guilty.)

The former president was invited to appear before the House quad-committee (quad-comm) hearing on Tuesday to “provide valuable insights and shed light” on the issues concerning extrajudicial killings (EJKs) under his term.

Through a letter signed by his legal counsel, Duterte said Monday evening that he won’t be attending the scheduled hearing, citing prior engagements and health concerns.

He, however, expressed willingness to appear before the mega-panel after Nov. 1.

Alvarez, who previously led the House of Representatives early into Duterte’s term, asserted that Congress must also be willing to “face its own reckoning”.

He underscored that the blood spilled during the war on drugs are not solely on Duterte’s hands, but also on the hands of lawmakers “who turned a blind eye” when the campaign resulted in thousands of deaths.

Human rights organizations estimate that up to 30,000 Filipinos died during the anti-drug campaign.

“Congress had the power to stop this, but it didn’t. Congress shares the responsibility for the collateral damage in human costs that happened. There is no escaping that fact,” said Alvarez.

The Mindanaoan argued that Congress was approving multiple General Appropriations Acts (GAA), year after year, without exercising “meaningful insight” into the consequences of funding the anti-drug operations.

“Congress didn’t just fund the war on drugs—Congress legitimized it,” he emphasized.

Alvarez likewise criticized his fellow solons for allegedly shifting the blame of the war on drugs to just Duterte, as he claimed it was not a “one-man crusade”.

“Kung ang may kasalanan ang hahanapin, malaki ang parte ng Congress dahil kung walang pondo, walang war on drugs,” he added.

(If the culprit is to be found, Congress has a big part in this because without funds, there is no war on drugs.)