Rodrigo Duterte wants to attend drug war probe but not feeling well – lawyer

Ex-President Rodrigo Duterte — File photo from Malacañang

MANILA, Philippines — Former President Rodrigo Duterte would want to attend the next House of Representatives quad committee hearing on his drug war, but he was not feeling well, his lawyer said in a letter on Monday.

Lawyer Martin Delgra III, a former chair of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), said in told the quad committee that Duterte arrived in Davao City on October 17 but received the invitation letter only a day after.

The next quad committee hearing is on Tuesday, October 22.

“Unfortunately, despite his keen intention to attend, my client respectfully manifests that he cannot attend the public hearing set on 22 October 2024,” Delgra said.

“Considering his advanced age and the several engagements he had to attend, he is currently not feeling well and is in need of much rest,” he added.

READ: Ex-President Duterte not in Senate’s initial drug war probe – Pimentel

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Furthermore, Delgra said Duterte would be willing to show up at the quad committee hearing, but he requested that it to be at hearings after November 1.

“On Sunday, 20 October 2024, my client received the letter dated 18 October 2024 inviting him to attend the public hearing to be conducted by the Joint Committees [on] 22 October 2024 at 9:30 in the morning to provide insights and shed light on some issues under discussion particularly on the previous administration campaign on illegal drugs,” Delgra said.

“Hence, my client respectfully requests to defer his appearance before the Honorable Committee scheduled tomorrow.  Rest assured of my client’s willingness to appear before the House of Representatives on some other available date, preferably after 01 November 2024,” he added.

The letter was addressed to the quad committee lead presiding officer, Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers.

Earlier, Barbers said that the letter to Duterte was a reiteration of an invitation that was issued after the second quad committee hearing last August 22.

The hearing scheduled on Tuesday will be the ninth.

“We already sent out invitations. We just reiterated them because what we sent before, if I am not mistaken, was during our second or third quad comm hearing. But there was no response. Maybe they did not receive it. That’s why we sent out another invitation,” Barbers said.

“We still do not have any feedback. I think we coursed it through the PNP [Philippine National Police] so that it can be delivered quickly,” he added.

Revelations during hearings

Duterte’s name was mentioned several times during the quad committee hearings, which started last August 16.

At the second hearing alone, Duterte was accused of being behind the killing of three Chinese nationals detained at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm.

According to the testimony from confessed killer Leopoldo Tan, he and a certain Fernando Magdadaro were hired to kill Chu Kin Tung, Jackson Lee, and Peter Wang — the three detainees serving time for drug-related charges.

Tan claimed that Bureau of Corrections official Senior Superintendent Gerardo Padilla talked to a person over the phone after the alleged kill order was carried out, whom he identified as Duterte. Tan said Duterte even congratulated the jail officer.

Eventually, discussions of extrajudicial killings moved towards claims that former police colonels Royina Garma and Edilberto Leonardo masterminded the killing of former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board secretary Wesley Barayuga, a former police general.

Garma was the PCSO general manager when the incident happened. Both Garma and Leonardo — officials believed to have close ties to Duterte — denied the revelation.

But despite her denial, Garma eventually admitted that the drug war implemented across the country adopted a “Davao template,” under which police officers involved in killings would be given monetary rewards.

Testifying before the quad committee on October 11, Garma said Duterte contacted her in May 2016 about the creation of a national task force, asking her to find a Philippine National Police (PNP) officer or operative who is a member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo who can implement the drug war on a national scale while “replicating the Davao model.”

According to Garma, she told Duterte that she is unaware of “any individual with those qualifications” as she has not been assigned outside of Davao. However, she remembered her upperclassman, Leonardo, who used to be a member of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and was also a member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo.

However, Duterte’s former spokesperson, Salvador Panelo, chided the quad committee for hearing testimonies from convicted felons to implicate the former president.

Panelo stressed in a statement sent to reporters that these convicts could only be saying unfavorable things against Duterte and his family members to obtain favors regarding their cases.

He also said that these prisoners had nothing to lose since they were “jailed for life.”