Rep. Barbers: ICC free to use Pogo, drug trade hearings for probe

MANILA, Philippines — Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said the International Criminal Court (ICC) is free to use the quad-committee hearings on illegal activities linked to Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), the illegal drug trade, and human rights violations.

Barbers, in a press briefing at the Batasang Pambansa complex, said that they will make their records accessible to everyone — including transcripts of discussions between lawmakers and invited resource persons.

Several relatives of drug war fatalities have filed crimes against humanity complaints against former President Rodrigo Duterte and his then officials for supposedly being behind the extrajudicial killings (EJKs).  While Duterte and his allies have maintained that the anti-drug operations were conducted in a routine manner, groups said the former president should be held accountable for these killings.

“Our hearings are public hearings.  Since the nature of public hearings — because of public interest — therefore records of such hearings would be out in the public,” Barbers, who heads the House of Representatives committee on dangerous drugs, said on Wednesday.

“Anyone can use the transcript or maybe even records of the hearings.  As to how they are going to use it, that is not within our realm.  If the ICC would want to use this, it’s up to them, as these are public records,” he added.

According to Barbers, they would not mind whether or not the records are of any assistance to the ICC.

“If it would help them or not, it is up to them,” he added.

Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., meanwhile, said that he prefers the ICC to source their own materials for their own probe, adding that he would like to keep the hearings domestic.

Abante heads the House committee on human rights.

However, Abante clarified later on that if ICC would use their hearing, it would be up to them, but the panels would not extend any help.

“Actually I made a statement that my hearing is domestic. We would like this to be heard para we could be able to resolve this domestically. I’m not going to allow the ICC to use the Committee on Human Rights,” he said.

“Let them submit on their own as the President said that we do not recognize the ICC in the Philippines right now. So it’s up to them to investigate, but I’m not going to allow the committee on human rights to be used by the ICC for their own investigation,” he added.

The two panels are part of the quad-committee formed to check the interconnection between the issues. Under House Resolution No. 1880 which was approved last Tuesday, the two committees plus the committee on public order and safety and the committee on public accounts will form the quad-committee.

The adoption of HR No. 1880 comes after Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. delivered a privilege speech during Monday’s session, highlighting the importance of a coordinated approach to pressing issues faced by the country today.

READ: House OKs reso tasking panels to jointly probe Pogo, drugs, EJK issues

The committee on dangerous drugs initially conducted an investigation into two anti-drug operations in Pampanga — including a controlled delivery operation where drugs from the Port of Subic were tracked down into a warehouse in Mexico, owned by Empire 999 Realty Corp.

After it was eventually revealed that the warehouse was owned by Empire 999 Realty Corporation, controlled by a certain Willie Ong, the committee dug deeper and found ties to Lincoln Ong, an individual involved in the Pharmally issue.

READ: Gov’t to seize 320 properties worth billions from Chinese drug lords

The committee on public order and safety meanwhile started the probe on Pogos, where it was revealed that a worker named ‘Dylan’ was sold by a Chinese friend to the Bamban hub for P300,000.

Some of the names mentioned in the committee on dangerous drugs’ hearing also surfaced during the discussions on Pogo sites.