Rody not attending House probe into drug war killings

Former President Rodrigo Duterte is not attending the continuation today of the House of Representatives’ investigation into alleged drug-related extrajudicial killings during his administration.

Duterte's legal counsel, Martin Delgra III, informed the House Quad Committee that the former chief executive would not be able to attend because he needs to rest following a recent trip to Metro Manila from Davao City.

Delgra said Duterte also was not feeling well. “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 at some other available dates, preferably after 1 November," Delgra said in a letter to the panel.

The panel issued the invitation anew after Duterte was repeatedly implicated in the killings during his term, including those of three Chinese drug lords at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in August 2016, two months after he assumed office.

A former aide, retired police colonel Royina Garma, claimed the former president ordered the police to to take the so-called "Davao model” nationwide – where drug suspects were killed for rewards to police of up to P1 million.

Quad committee chairperson Ace Barbers proposed on Monday that the House and the Senate hold a joint hearing instead of the latter starting a parallel investigation.

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