Generals send feelers to testify on drug war EJKs

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers FILE PHOTO

The House “supercommittee” formed to investigate issues linked to former President Rodrigo Duterte has received feelers from retired and active generals willing to testify about extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and other drug-related crimes, a ranking lawmaker said on Friday.

In an interview, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, who chairs the House committee on dangerous drugs, said they would first weigh the gravity and credibility of the testimonies before the committee allows them to sit in the so-called “quad comm’s” first hearing on Aug. 15.

Besides Barbers, the “quad comm” is composed of Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante, chair of the House committee on human rights; Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez, chair of the committee on public order and safety; and Abang Lingkod Rep. Joseph Paduano, chair of the public accounts committee.

Barbers, however, refused to identify the policemen who reportedly had reached out to the House. There was no mention of Maj. Gen. Romeo Caramat Jr., who reportedly offered to reveal what he knows about the drug war if the Marcos administration would appoint him to the top post of the Philippine National Police. Caramat, former head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, was named chief of the Area Police Command-Northern Luzon in May this year.

Barbers said potential informants “cannot demand concessions in exchange for speaking up … let’s just do it for our country. Our goal is to bring out the truth that needs to be learned by the Filipino public.”

No nat’l security threat

He also assured possible witnesses could testify in open hearings or in closed-door sessions if the information would involve national security or endanger their safety.

READ: Active, retired cops sending feelers about testifying vs EJKs – solon

Formed via House Resolution No. 1880, the super body combines four separate inquiries into Chinese syndicates, Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), illegal drugs and the brutal war on drugs.

Their hearing comes after National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Nica) director general Ricardo de Leon and Ako Bicol party list Rep. Zaldy Co, who chairs the House committee on appropriations, denied allegations by Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa that they had pressured retired and active duty police officials to testify against Dela Rosa and Duterte in the International Criminal Court.

Dela Rosa, who was Duterte’s first national police chief, told a group of Senate reporters on Wednesday that he had “very, very reliable information” that De Leon, Co, Speaker Martin Romualdez and former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV met with police officials “to convince them to execute an affidavit implicating Duterte and me” in Duterte’s bloody drug war.

De Leon and Co, after denying such allegations, said it was Caramat who offered to confess a “tell-all” about the drug war.