Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., chair of the House committee on human rights —photo screengrab from House of Representatives YouTube livestream
MANILA, Philippines — Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. believes the invitation—and potential presence—of Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa in a congressional probe on alleged rights violations would not touch inter-parliamentary courtesy because he is not being questioned as a lawmaker.
Instead, Abante said on Wednesday that Dela Rosa will be questioned as a former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), who was responsible for the implementation of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war against illegal drugs.
READ: House panel ready to probe into anti-drug war, extra-judicial killings
“We invited Senator Bato dela Rosa—if the Senate will allow it—to appear here. Not because he’s a senator, but because during that time, he was the director general of the Philippine National Police,” Abante said during the hearing of the House committee on human rights which he heads.
READ: Dela Rosa says he is skipping House probe into drug war
“I believe that when you speak of inter-parliamentary courtesy, they can forego attendance when it comes to the fact that we are investigating something related to their being a senator. But we are investigating the past, he was a director general of the [PNP],” he added.
READ: Duterte OK to show up in courts, but not in House EJK probe – Roque
Human rights violations committed
According to Abante, the House panel is discussing where accountability should be extracted—as he believes that there were human rights violations committed in the conduct of the drug war.
“We are talking about accountability here, we are talking about command responsibility here,” he added.
Earlier, dela Rosa said he is skipping the House of Representatives probe, after Senate President Francis Escudero advised him to refrain from attending.
Dela Rosa said he would have attended if it was only his decision.
Abante meanwhile reiterated that they would also ask former president Rodrigo Duterte to attend the hearing.
“It was shown that we can address the drug problem without people dying,” Abante said, referring to the current administration’s version of the drug war. “I hope that will continue because if many people die, I do not care who the President is, the committee will investigate it. Why? Because that is (a) human rights violation.”
“For our next hearing, we invited the former president Duterte to this hearing. The members ng committee have agreed to this,” he added.
However, hours after Abante made the statements, lawyer Harry Roque said that Duterte sees no problem showing up in any court hearing, but not during the House committee’s discussions.
Right against self-incrimination
Roque in a statement posted on his official Facebook page said Duterte will invoke his right against self-incrimination, noting that under the 1987 Constitution, Congress cannot compel the former president to attend hearings.
“As guaranteed by our Bill of Rights, Congress cannot compel FPRRD to be a witness against himself. Our former President firmly believes that the Lower House is not the proper forum to investigate any criminal allegation against him,” Roque said.
“Tatay Digong is unafraid to face all his accusers in any domestic court. He will cooperate and participate in any criminal investigation, provided that Filipino prosecutors conduct the proceeding,” he added.
When Abante last May 16 announced that the probe on the alleged drug war abuses would start, he felt that there was no need to invite Duterte or Dela Rosa—the former president’s first police chief—“to maintain that courtesy with the sitting senator and also with the former president”.
Then on June 5, upon the prodding of Kabataan party-list Raoul Manuel, Abante said the committee will inform Duterte and dela Rosa about the next hearing, but it will be up to the two individuals if they will attend.
Things changed on Tuesday, after Abante said he is now convinced that the drug war was “deceitful”, saying that he hopes Duterte can actually listen to the testimonies of drug war victims’ relatives.