Marcos: Let DOJ handle House move vs Rodrigo Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Thursday that he would leave it to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to assess the House quad committee’s recommendation to hold ex-President Rodrigo Duterte and several others accountable for crimes against humanity in the bloody war on drugs.

“The quad comm has its recommendations; that’s how the process is when they do an oversight hearing; they have their findings. They will forward it to the DOJ, and there are recommendations on how to handle all the findings in the hearings,” Marcos said in an interview.

He said the DOJ will evaluate the House quad panel’s report to determine if charges should be indeed filed against his predecessor and to prosecute these cases.

“They still have to look and assess a lot of things. Like what cases should be filed, and if the House committee’s recommendation went in the right direction,” the President said.

Mr. Marcos made the remarks when asked to comment on the House quad committee’s recommendation to charge Duterte and several others with crimes against humanity for the bloody war on drugs that took more than 6,000 lives, according to official reports.

Crimes against humanity

House quad panel chair and Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers reported on Wednesday that Duterte and his two allies in the Senate—Senators Christopher “Bong” Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa—should stand trial for violating Republic Act No. 9851, or the Act on Crimes against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and other Crimes Against Humanity.

Barbers said the House quad committee’s hearings bared “chilling revelations” and brought to light “a harrowing narrative of abuse and power and institutional impunity” under Duterte.

Duterte faced the lawmakers during one hearing, saying he was assuming full responsibility for the brutal campaign that killed mostly poor Filipinos. He told them not to question his policies, as he would not apologize or make excuses for his iron-fist campaign against illegal drugs.

The House quad panel also recommended charges of violating RA 9851 against ex-Philippine National Police chiefs Oscar Albayalde and Debold Sinas, ex-Cebu police chief Royina Garma, ex-National Police Commission Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, and Go’s aide, Herminia “Muking” Espino.

They were included in the charges for their role in creating and implementing the cash rewards system that incentivized killings in the drug war.

NBI probe

The National Bureau of Investigation may subpoena the witnesses who testified in the quad committee inquiry as part of the DOJ’s investigation of the extrajudicial killings during the Duterte administration in a “very extensive case buildup effort,” according to Justice Undersecretary Jesse Andres.

He said the DOJ had yet to receive the House committee report but added that they would need affidavits instead of relying solely on transcripts of the hearings.

“Everyone saw that the resource persons provided very revealing information, even making self-incriminating admissions,” he said. “All of this information will now be evaluated, and we will conduct a thorough follow-up investigation and case buildup.”

He said the DOJ has formed a special body to investigate the former President for potential violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) in connection with the extrajudicial killings that occurred in the drug war.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla earlier said that the task force was focusing on Duterte’s potential violation of IHL, the same legal grounds on which the International Criminal Court (ICC) was conducting its own probe of the drug war.

Duterte party speaks

The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP), the political party headed by Duterte, on Thursday, denounced the quad committee’s decision to recommend his criminal prosecution, saying it was “clearly politically motivated” and legally baseless.

“The quad comm also conducted the hearings on the antidrug campaign of the Duterte administration without due process and a strong anti-Duterte bias, obviously carried over from the hearings of another House committee attempting to pin down Vice President Sara Duterte on alleged fund misuse,” PDP said in a statement.

“This clearly shows that the House of Representatives has launched a carefully planned, well-funded, but poorly executed demolition job against [Duterte] and his allies ahead of the 2025 elections,” it added.

‘Railroaded’ process

The party questioned the mega panel’s speed in coming up with recommendations given that it wrapped up the probe only last Dec. 12, or just a week ago. The inquiry opened last August.

“This clearly shows that the quad comm had an inherent bias against [Duterte] and his allies and railroaded the process to coerce and threaten witnesses, including abusing its powers of contempt against ‘uncooperative’ resource persons,” it said.

‘Nothing to hide’

The quad committee pushed for the further investigation of Duterte’s son, Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, Davao City Councilor Nilo Abellera Jr., former presidential task force for media safety chief Paul Gutierrez, former National Irrigation Administration Administrator Benny Antiporda, a certain Jojo Bacud, a certain “Tita Nanie,” and former National Commission on Indigenous Peoples chair Allen Capuyan. They were identified as members of the “Davao Group” that supposedly had links with the Bureau of Customs to facilitate the entry of illegal drugs into the country.

“I welcome any investigation to be conducted by an impartial and credible body, as I have nothing to hide. I remain committed to clearing our name and confident that the truth will expose the baseless nature of these accusations,” Rep. Duterte said in a statement.

“However, I must stress that any call for investigation must be based on credible evidence, not on pure hearsay testimony from [a] convicted felon like Jimmy Guban,” he added.

Such testimonies lack credibility and “undermine the integrity of any legitimate inquiry,” he said.

Guban is serving a sentence for conspiracy to import illegal drugs.

Lawyer Martin Delgra, a spokesperson for the former President, said he was not surprised by the quad committee’s recommendation.

“As [former President] Duterte has challenged the quad comm and the Senate even before—‘Go ahead, file the case!’” he said.

He said the “basic problem” with the case is that crimes against humanity have not yet been defined under Philippine law.

Under international humanitarian law, such crimes are acts committed as part of a “widespread or systematic attack” directed against civilians and include murder, torture, and rape, he said.

Deaths not yet ‘fact’

Also, the thousands of deaths have not been “established as fact,” Delgra said.

“It’s time for the quad comm and all the critics on the Philippine war on illegal drugs to put up a good case or shut up!” he said

But opposition figures said that the quad committee’s recommendation to criminally charge Duterte and the others was an “important step toward justice.”

“The writing on the wall is clear: Duterte and his minions must be made to pay. We can no longer deny Kian delos Santos and the thousands of EJK victims the justice they deserve,” said Akbayan Rep. Perci Cendana.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, a lawyer for the victims of extrajudicial killings, said the House committee report was a “significant step in the Filipino people’s long search for justice.”

“The quad committee’s findings validate what we have been saying all along—that the drug war was a systematic campaign of state violence that resulted in crimes against humanity,” Colmenares said.

He stressed, however, that the House investigation should complement, not replace, the ongoing ICC probe. —WITH REPORTS FROM KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING, JANE BAUTISTA, RYAN ROSAURO, GERMILINA LACORTE AND JOSELLE R. BADILLA 

(2024/12/20-05:52)