The House of Representatives has doubled down on the quad-committee's (quad-comm) recommendation to file appropriate charges against former president Rodrigo Duterte in connection with extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in his administration's bloody war on drugs.
This, after the plenary adopted the quad-comm's final committee report--along with its findings and recommendations--during plenary session on Tuesday night, June 10.
Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, overall chairman of the quad-comm, sponsored Committee Report No.1501, which sought the filing of criminal charges against Duterte "under Section 6 (Other Crimes Against Humanity) of Republic Act No. 9851".
The quad-comm recommended the same action against Senators Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa and Christopher "Bong" Go, former Philippine National Police (PNP) chiefs Oscar Albayalde and Debold Sinas, and Police Colonels Royina Garma and Edilberto Leonardo.
This mirrored the quad-comm's recommendations in its partial committee report, which Barbers also presented to the plenary on Dec. 18, 2024.
On Tuesday, the 300-strong House expressed its sense a second time in backing these recommendations.
The final committee report also sought the filing of charges for murder against Duterte, Garma, Leonardo, SPO4 Arthur Narsolis, and Supt. Gerardo Padilla over the killing of three Chinese inmates at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm on Aug. 13, 2016.
Since August 2024, the quad-comm has been looking into the alleged interconnected issues of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), EJKs, money-laundering, illegal drugs, and former president Duterte's drug war.
The mega-panel carried out 15 marathon hearings in all. Duterte appeared in one of those hearings as a resource person.
"Initially, quad-comm was looked down as just another political vehicle tasked to persecute those who are perceived to be in the opposition and those whose political beliefs are critical of the administration. It was not easy to overcome the negative bashings that were thrown our way," Barbers saodcin his sponsorship speech Tuesday.
"Nonetheless, from the moment that this plenary tasked the quad-comm to look into, investigate in aid of legislation, and make its recommendations, the entire quad-comm team did not waste time and forthwith buckled down to work," he said.
Barbers further said: 'Quad-comm was able to prove the critics wrong. It does not exist for political persecutions [or] cheap propaganda. It is not an administration tool to destroy the opposition nor a vehicle to advance one’s political ambitions."
"Mr. Speaker, the quad-comm committee report contains established facts that hurdled the tests successfully. Those facts were the basis of the findings and recommendations put forth by the committee. Recommendations that are backed by solid evidence, both testimonial and documentary that were presented in the hearings and unearthed through research," he stressed.
The committee report was signed by Barbers and his quad-comm co-chairmen Santa Rosa City lone district Rep. Dan Fernandez, Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido "Benny" Abante Jr., and Abang Lingkod Party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen "Caraps" Paduano.
It also recommended a deeper probe into the alleged joint bank accounts of the former president and his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, following former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s revelations in the quad-comm hearings that those accounts received funds from drug-linked financier Sammy Uy.
It called for sweeping reforms, including amendments to the Bank Secrecy Act, Anti-Dummy Law, and Anti-Money Laundering Act; the creation of a truly independent Internal Affairs Service for the PNP; new laws on custodial deaths and autopsies; and reparations for families of drug war victims.
“This is not just about policy failures. This is about killings ordered and protected by the highest officials of the land. The time for accountability has come,” the mega-panel said.