Grijaldo draws lawmakers’ ire

Police Col. Hector Grijaldo drew the ire of the House Quad Committee on Wednesday after he failed to appear in its investigation for the third time. This after he earlier accused two of the panel co-chairs of pressuring him to corroborate a claim of “monetary rewards” given to police officers who killed drug suspects during the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.

Grijaldo submitted three excuse letters to the committee that said he was suffering from shoulder pain due to rotator cuff syndrome and was currently hospitalized.

According to PBGen. Constancio Chinayog Jr., Grijaldo reported for duty from 18 to 22 November but subsequently filed a leave of absence from 25 November to 4 December.

Committee co-chair Dan Fernandez did not buy Grijaldo’s alibi, asserting that the police officer was patently evading the congressional probe by citing the same medical reason.

“Mr. Chairman, it’s quite annoying. His continued absence from this committee hearing under the pretext of medical excuses [is] not acceptable,” Fernandez said. “He [is] running away from his responsibility. He tainted the name of this representation and not only of this representation but the whole Quadcomm.”

“Truly, he wanted to evade this hearing. He does not want to stand by what he said in his affidavit to the Senate,” he said.

Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., a panel co-chair, warned Grijaldo he “can hide but you cannot run from this committee.”

“I have always maintained my silence over the accusations of Colonel Grijaldo on this because I do not anymore want to belabor what he said in the Senate. But the thing is, he must appear here and tell us about his accusations,” Abante said.

Both Fernandez and Abante reiterated that they were willing to relinquish their chairmanships to ensure impartiality in discussions on the allegation Grijaldo made before the Senate.

In October, Grijaldo said — under oath — that Fernandez and Abante tried to pressure him into corroborating the affidavit of retired police colonel Royina Garma about the supposed scheme of rewarding policemen who killed drug suspects.

Grijaldo also claimed Abante tried to convince him to do their bidding by implying that he could get him promoted to police general.

Grijaldo told the senators that he felt “insulted” and “corrupted” by the two House lawmakers but he refused to be influenced by them.

Fernandez and Abante have repeatedly denied the allegation, asserting that they were only acting on Garma’s suggestion that they meet with Grijaldo because he supposedly knew about the reward system.