Former aides of President Rodrigo Duterte brushed off as hearsay former police colonel Royina Garma’s revelation of a reward system in the nationwide campaign to eradicate drugs under the previous administration which allegedly resulted in the high number of extrajudicial killings (EJK).

Former presidential chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo said that Garma made the allegation under duress during the House Quad Committee hearing on Friday.

“What is evident is that Garma may have succumbed to threats or intimidation under pain of incarceration if she did not make the allegations contained in her affidavit,” Panelo said.

The House panel of four committees plans to invite Duterte to testify on the extrajudicial killings during his presidency which are being linked to the operations of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO).

Suggestions made during the hearing were that funds raised from POGOs bankrolled the war on drugs.

Manila Rep. Benny Abante, panel co-chairperson, said that while Duterte declined previous invitations, the committee remains open to his participation as a resource person.

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who was the first Philippine National Police (PNP) chief under the Duterte administration, denied any knowledge of a reward system for police units in the early years of Duterte’s term when the war on drugs was launched.

Dela Rosa belied Garma’s bombshell, including her claim that Duterte had asked her to recommend an officer to implement a national version of the “Davao model,” which included tiered rewards for eliminating drug suspects.

According to Dela Rosa, he did not oversee any reward scheme during his tenure due to insufficient funds and questioned Garma’s motives for giving her testimony.

At the hearing, Dela Rosa was accused by alleged drug lord Kerwin Espinosa of pressuring him to implicate former Senator Leila de Lima in illegal drug activities. The senator said he would punch Espinosa in the face if he saw him.

“Do you remember that I housed his entire family — father, mother, children and siblings — in the White House because they were afraid to return to Albuera? I took care of them there. What motivation would I have to kill them? Kerwin is a tremendous liar... he claims he asked to return to the Philippines when, in fact, he was arrested by Abu Dhabi police with our coordination. He is a master of deception,” Dela Rosa said.

“When I see him, I’ll punch him in the face. He is lying,” he added.

Meant to divert

Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, Duterte’s former special assistant, characterized Garma’s statements as “diversionary tactics.”

Go suggested that her comments were aimed at deflecting attention away from her own alleged involvement in the 2019 murder of Wesley Barayuga, a former board secretary of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

The allegations were malicious and unsubstantiated and “should have no place in any credible investigation,” Go said.

Go said he would strongly encourage the Senate to conduct an impartial investigation of the allegations.

“While I am committed to focusing on giving service to Filipinos, when my dignity is assailed I will not stay quiet,” he said.

Go recalled that the former president stated clearly numerous times that his administration never sanctioned or tolerated any form of senseless killings.

“Mr. Duterte is a lawyer and a prosecutor. He knows and has always respected the rule of law,” Go said.

“The war on drugs of the previous administration, lest we forget, enjoyed widespread public support across all sectors and people are now seeing the difference in how once upon a time they felt safe in the streets and in their communities,” Go said.

Garma, in an affidavit, detailed the Davao model as comprising three tiers of payments: rewards for killing suspects, funding for operational plans, and reimbursement for incurred expenses.

She said the rewards ranged from P20,000 to P1 million, although she did not clarify how the amounts were apportioned.

Dela Rosa said the only recognized reward system within the PNP came from the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s list of most wanted persons.

He had expressed his opposition to any reward system for police actions, asserting that it was the sworn duty of every officer to maintain a drug-free environment.

Duterte had famously vowed to pursue a rigorous campaign against illegal drugs, leading to figures of over 6,000 deaths connected to the anti-drug campaign.

Human rights organizations said the actual death toll was significantly higher, possibly up to 30,000 dead.

Flawed recounting

Panelo questioned Garma’s recollection of the meeting between her and Duterte in May 2016 when the latter did assume office until July 2016.

“Garma does not claim to be part of or an operator or executioner of the Davao model, so how could she have known of its operation, assuming that it did exist?” Panelo asked.

“It is noticeable that her so-called knowledge of the alleged plan to fight illegal drugs is all hearsay. She said the information was conveyed or relayed to her by her sources. She has absolutely no personal knowledge,” Panelo pointed out.

He contended that no one could launch a successful war on drugs without an effective legal strategy to neutralize drug cartels and organized crime, which necessarily would involve funding by the government.

“There is no such animal as FPRRD (former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte) giving reward money in exchange for killing a drug lord, a dealer or a pusher or a drug addict,” Panelo said.

He added: “When FPRRD declared war on drugs and made a statement that he would kill those involved in illegal drugs, he was making a commitment that he would pursue them to the ends of the earth to prosecute and put them behind bars, which he did during his incumbency — which resulted to its almost total destruction that brought security and peace of mind to the citizenry.”