Drug war victims eye more evidence for ICC 

HOUSE HEARING Neri Colmenares (second from left) and Police Col. Jovie Espenido (third from left) attend a House hearing with jail official Gerardo Padilla (right) and Col. Royina Garma (left), who is also accused of complicity in extrajudicial killings. —Lyn Rillon

MANILA, Philippines — A lawyer for the families of drug war victims wants to hand over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) some of the documents from the House quad committee conducting an inquiry into the possible link of Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) and the drug war.

Human rights lawyer Neri Colmenares told the Inquirer he will formally ask Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, lead chair of the quad committee, this week to get copies of official papers submitted by police officers and agencies that appeared as resource persons in the proceedings.

Colmenares expressed confidence this strategy will also help the investigation to move forward to the issuance of arrest warrants.

READ: Bato dela Rosa urged to explain role in Duterte ‘drug war’ before ICC

“I understand that the government doesn’t want to directly provide [the documents] because of certain policies, but they could just hand it to us,” he added.

Barbers earlier said that while the House quad committee could not directly turn over transcripts to the ICC probers, the Hague-based court could check the livestream archives and use them in its own proceedings.

During the quad committee hearing on Aug. 28, Police Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido testified that money from small town lottery, Pogos and intelligence funds were used to reward police officers who implement anti-illegal drug operations.

Key document

Colmenares stressed the so-called “narcolist” is a key document that could serve as a piece of evidence to bolster the accusations against former President Rodrigo Duterte in his administration’s bloody antidrug campaign.

“That drug list should be subpoenaed. Where is that list? That should be reviewed to ascertain how credible that is,” Colmenares said.

“If they find that it is not a credible list, then Duterte is part of a conspiracy to commit abuses, including extrajudicial killings,” he added.

The thousands of brutal killings dating back to his mayoral years in Davao City are under probe by the ICC for possible crimes against humanity.

An ICC document made public in July tagged as “suspects” former Philippine National Police chief and now Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, retired PNP chief Oscar Albayalde, former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Romeo Caramat Jr., former National Police Commission chief Edilberto Leonardo and former PNP chief intelligence officer Eleazar Mata.

Senator taken to task

Also on Saturday, House Deputy Majority Leader Jude Acidre and House Assistant Majority Leader Jil Bongalon said Dela Rosa must “face the music” and clarify his alleged involvement in the brutal war on drugs before the ICC.

“I hope Senator Bato would just face his case at the ICC, so he can also confront and hear the heartbreaking stories of the families left behind by those killed during the drug war,” Acidre said in a joint statement with Bongalon released on Saturday.

“He keeps distancing himself from the thousands of deaths during the war on drugs, but he was the PNP chief during that time.”

“He cannot deny that he played a central role in the implementation of the bloody drug war,” he added.

Bongalon, for his part, wondered why Dela Rosa “continues to evade responsibility” despite his position as police chief when the brutal antidrug campaign was implemented.

“Senator Bato cannot just brush aside the ICC’s investigation. He was at the helm of the police force when the most egregious human rights abuses were committed. It is his duty to explain what happened,” Bongalon said. —with a report from Luisa Cabato