Duterte, De Lima face off at Senate

Former President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration’s staunch critic, former Senator Leila de Lima, are expected to meet face-to-face today as the Senate conducts its motu proprio investigation into the previous administration’s drug war.

The investigation aims to examine the alleged human rights violations associated with the drug war, which has resulted in thousands of deaths and widespread allegations of extrajudicial killings.

De Lima, a former justice secretary, has been a prominent advocate for accountability, consistently criticizing Duterte’s approach and calling for justice for the victims and their families.

Duterte, whose administration was marked by a relentless crackdown on illegal drugs, has repeatedly defended the campaign as necessary to combat drug-related crime. He has maintained that the war on drugs is a legitimate law enforcement effort, despite widespread condemnation from human rights groups and calls for investigations from various sectors.

Duterte has been accused of being the chief architect of his controversial drug war that allegedly killed more than 30,000 Filipinos.

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing will be led by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.

The investigation was prompted by Duterte’s allies in the chamber — Senators Dela Rosa and Christopher “Bong” Go — to launch an “unbiased” investigation that would ferret out the truth, an apparent swipe at their counterparts in the House of Representatives.

Dela Rosa served as the head of the Philippine National Police in 2016, and led the anti-narcotics campaign of the Duterte administration — the controversial “Oplan Tokhang.”

Pimentel said De Lima, who was recently acquitted by the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 205 from her final and remaining drug case, would also be invited to their investigation.

The former lawmaker was accused of pocketing payoffs from drug lords when she was still the Justice secretary in 2016 to raise money for her senatorial bid, which she claimed was “politically motivated.”

According to Pimentel, the Senate panel also invited alleged drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, who claimed that Dela Rosa coerced him to link former senator Leila de Lima to the illegal drug trade.

Dela Rosa denied the said allegations.

Retired P/Col. Royina Garma, who earlier admitted that Duterte ordered her to find police that would implement an anti-narcotics campaign similar to the “Davao model” was also invited by the Senate panel.

Likewise, the panel also invited then-police colonel Edilberto Leonardo, who was recommended by Garma to be the implementer of the reward-for-kill scheme of Duterte’s war on drugs. 

Pimentel said representatives from families of the victims of the alleged extrajudicial killings were also invited to the Senate hearing.

Based on the government data, at least 7,000 people were killed under Duterte’s drug war, however, both local and international human rights groups disagreed with the figures, stressing that the actual number of victims could be as high as 30,000.