The Department of Justice (DoJ) announced yesterday that it will conduct a preliminary investigation into high-profile killings that allegedly occurred during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The killings are currently under scrutiny by the House of Representatives’ Quad Committee.

“We will initiate the preliminary investigation and case build-up once Congress refers its committee report together with the affidavits or when somebody files a complaint against those responsible,” DoJ Undersecretary Raul T. Vasquez said.

“Here, it could be the police or private complainants” initiating the complaints, he added. Vasquez pointed out that before the investigation can proceed, there must be “an initiatory process,” such as someone filing a complaint.

The House Quad Committee has been conducting hearings on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and extrajudicial killings (EJKs) during illegal drug operations.

These include the killings of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board secretary and retired police general Wesley Barayuga in 2020; Mayor Antonio Halili of Tanauan, Batangas, in 2018; Mayor Rolando Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte, in 2016; and convicted drug lords Chu Kin Tung, Li Lan Yan, and Wong Meng Pin inside the Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF) in 2016.

Garma’s revelations about an alleged cash reward system to kill drug traffickers could just be the “tip of an iceberg,” House leaders said Sunday.

Assistant Majority Leaders Jefferson Khonghun and Paolo Ortega said the gravity of Garma’s allegations cannot be merely discounted considering how she had been closely associated with Duterte.

PCSO post

Duterte appointed Garma to the PCSO as general manager in June 2019, barely two weeks after availing of an early retirement.

“Mind you, it’s just the tip of the iceberg — so to speak. It comes from the perspective of an insider who has not just the trust and confidence, or the eyes and ears of the former president, but even beyond that,” Khonghun said.

He also did not dismiss the possibility that the retired police officer, who has been identified as Duterte’s trusted aide, may stand as a “credible” source to the ongoing investigation of the House Quadcom into the previous administration’s notorious bloody anti-drug campaign.

Ortega chimed in that the government should “take note of Garma’s explosive testimony” as he suspects that it was only a peek into the deeper and alarming inner workings of the Duterte administration on the alleged extrajudicial killings.

“There is much more to uncover, and we are committed to getting to the bottom of these serious allegations. The Quadcom will not stop until all the facts are laid bare because this is about accountability,” Ortega remarked.

Garma left lawmakers surprised on Friday by changing her tune, saying Duterte ordered the police to mimic the so-called “Davao model,” a system rewarding cops for killing drug suspects for as high as P1 million, on a national scale.

She disclosed that an assembly was held in May 2016, a month before Duterte took office, to discuss the creation of a task force that would implement the nationwide killing.

INC link?

Garma claimed Duterte wanted a police officer who is a member of Iglesia Ni Cristo to spearhead the special task force. As a result, she recommended Police Lt. Col. Edilberto Leonardo, who was then assigned to the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Leonardo, who is being tagged as the brain behind the ambush plot of PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga in July 2020, resigned from his post as chief of the National Police Commission last week.

Garma also implicated Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, a former special assistant to Duterte, in overseeing the drug war. The senator dismissed it as “malicious” and “unsubstantiated.”

Duterte, as president openly declared a shoot-to-kill order to the police against members of drug syndicates, but would later on clarify that the order is if the suspects would engage cops in firefights.

Former senator Leila de Lima deemed “perfect” Garma’s testimony, which she said should be submitted to the International Criminal Court probing the alleged EJKs.

“The events of the Quad Committee must be conveyed to The Hague, especially now that those involved in the killing of thousands of Filipinos started to point fingers,” she wrote in Filipino in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“Justice should be pursued relentlessly both here and at the ICC so as not to give the guilty any chance of escaping judgment and punishment,” she said.

7,000 or 30,000

The government lodged more than 7,000 deaths under the Duterte’s drug war. Local and international human rights organizations, however, estimated that the death toll exceeded 30,000, affecting predominantly low-income families and communities.

On Sunday, Philippine National Police chief General Rommel Francisco Marbil called on former PNP chiefs to clarify their roles during the anti-drug campaign.

Marbil made the call following what the police force described as serious allegations made by Garma.

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the first PNP chief to serve under the Duterte presidency, has denied the alleged reward system or the purported EJK policy of the previous administration in dealing with drug personalities.

During the last Quad Committee meeting, Garma presented a matrix suggesting that former PNP chiefs were aware of the covert operations that included killing drug personalities.

In her sworn statement, she implicated Colonel Leonardo as a key figure in implementing the alleged scheme.

Garma recounted her initial interactions with Duterte, which purportedly began with a direct call instructing her to report to his residence in Davao City. She claimed that Duterte asked her to look for a high-ranking officer in the PNP to lead a national anti-drug initiative.

‘Liquidators’

Garma alleged that Leonardo subsequently collaborated with Duterte to establish a new task force composed of so-called “liquidators.”

Her affidavit named several members of Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) classes of 1996 and 1997 as active participants in the liquidation operations.

Garma has pledged to provide more details and names in an upcoming executive session with the Quad Committee, raising questions about the potential serious implications for those involved in the controversial drug policies of the Duterte administration.

The ICC investigation into the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign stems from allegations of widespread human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings.

In 2021, the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor announced a formal investigation after a preliminary examination revealed credible evidence of possible crimes against humanity.

This investigation seeks to determine if state officials, including Duterte, can be held accountable for orchestrating or encouraging these killings.

The Philippines, which withdrew from the ICC in 2019, has since disputed the court’s jurisdiction, but the ICC maintains that it has a mandate to investigate serious crimes regardless of a state’s membership status.