Barbers wants House, Senate joint probe into Duterte's drug war

Quad Committee Chairperson Ace Barbers proposed on Monday that the House of Representatives and the Senate should hold a joint hearing, rather than launching separate probes, into the alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) during the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

Barbers emphasized that a unified approach would expedite the crafting of legislation to address the issue, describing it as a national concern.

"I think this committee would be broader, more comprehensive, and of course, could ask more intelligent questions," Barbers stated during a press briefing. "It's just an idea that we are looking at. Just to say that this investigation is impartial because all of us, every Filipino, condemns the killing,” he added.

The Senate recently announced its own investigation into the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign, following a proposal from Senators Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa and Christopher “Bong” Go. De la Rosa, Duterte’s former police chief who led the war on drugs, indicated that his Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs would begin a probe, even as Congress is on break.

However, leaders of the Quad Committee have expressed concerns that the Senate investigation may lack impartiality, citing the deep involvement of De la Rosa and Go in the anti-drug operations and their close ties with the former president.

Santa Rosa Representative Dan Fernandez, a co-chair of the Quad Committee, supported Barbers’ proposal to synchronize efforts and hasten the passage of bills aimed at classifying EJKs as heinous crimes and banning Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) by December.

“If the upper and lower house don't sync when it comes to this kind of investigation […] and the POGO bill that we filed together with the upper house is not approved, our submission or filing of those two bills will be null and void,” Fernandez said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered all POGO operations in the country to cease by the end of the year.

Barbers confirmed that former President Rodrigo Duterte had been invited to attend the ninth hearing on Tuesday. He stressed that the panel would respect Duterte’s decision on whether or not he attends and assured that due courtesy would be extended should Duterte appear.

The invitation followed repeated allegations implicating Duterte in unjust killings during his term, including the deaths of three alleged Chinese drug lords at Davao Prison and Penal Farm in August 2016.

In a recent hearing, retired police colonel Royina Garma, reportedly a trusted aide of Duterte, confirmed that the former president directed police to replicate the so-called "Davao model," a system that allegedly rewarded officers up to P1 million for killing drug suspects.

In 2016, Duterte admitted to the existence of EJKs but denied that they were state-sponsored. Official government records list over 7,000 deaths under Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, though local and international human rights organizations estimate that the actual death toll exceeds 30,000, disproportionately affecting low-income families and communities.