The quad-committee in the House of Representatives will "exhaust every possibility" to have former president Rodrigo Duterte attend its joint probe into the alleged crime against humanity and the interconnected issues between the illegal drug trade and criminal activities in the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO).
In a press conference on Wednesday, Santa Rosa Rep. Dan Fernandez, chairperson of the House Committee on Public Order and Safety, said that they will be forced to do so if Duterte snubs anew the summon of the multi-panel but shrugged off such a move be followed immediately by a show cause order.
"I think we have to exhaust every possibility in case the [former] president does not again attend our hearings. There are many options that we can possibly do," Fernandez told reporters.
The quad-comm chairpersons, Surigao del Norte Rep. Ace Barbers (dangerous drugs), Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. (human rights), Abang Lingkod Partylist Rep. Stephen Paduano and Fernandez, are keen that Duterte's participation in the probe is pivotal to finally put an end to the allegations linking him for the proliferation of POGOs and human rights violations of his bloody drug war that killed at least 7,000 people based on government's data.
Local and international human rights organizations, however, estimated that the death toll exceeded 30,000, affecting predominantly low-income families and communities.
Apart from Duterte, the panel will also invite Senator Ronald "Bato" de la Rosa, who was then the former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the architect of Duterte's brutal war on drugs.
"We would like to invite him not because he is a senator but because he, was during the time on the war on drugs, the Director General of the Philippine National Police and under his stewardship thousands were killed," Abante said in a same press conference.
Abante pointed out that only 21 drug lords were killed while 7,000 drug pushers and 440 drug users were finished off, citing a document submitted by the PNP to his committee.
Duterte and De la Rosa had been previously invited to Abante's panel hearings to shed light on the so-called extrajudicial killings of the previous administration's anti-drug campaign, but they defied the congressional invitations, arguing that it was not the proper forum.
Barbers and Paduano, however, denied that the creation of the said committee was a personal affront to the erstwhile chief executive.
The lawmakers said the pressing issues, including the landholdings procured by alleged Chinese nationals that have links to POGOs and the delayed registration of birth certificates of Chinese--which are suspected as a possible avenue that allowed the influx of Chinese nationals in the Philippines--had already started long before Duterte took office.
Abante concurred, saying that Duterte might have only triggered such issues, which are now being subject to rigorous scrutiny of the quad comm.
"The previous administration might have triggered this investigation. It's continuing on that's why we're investigating that so that we can craft legislation to put a stop on the alleged criminal organizations that had happened… It's not politics, but it's actually trying to stop what has been happening for a number of years," Abante explained.
Meanwhile, Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop, the senior vice chair of the public order and safety panel, dispelled rumors that the investigation has to do with politics.
“We’re not into that business, to engage in a political squabble. No, we’re here to do our job. And our job is to find out whether the laws we have enacted in Congress are properly implemented by the Executive,” Acop told the media.
The quad-comm was formed earlier this week through House Resolution 1880 to rigorously investigate the correlated issues between EJK, illicit drugs and POGOs.
Duterte is being implicated in the issue of illegal drug trading after the panel discovered that his former economic adviser, Michael Yang, is associated with the incorporators of a company with links to Empire 999 Realty Corporation, which owns the warehouse in Mexico, Pampanga where the P3.5 billion shabu were seized in September last year.
The former president is also being accused as the person responsible for the proliferation of POGOs, which flourished during his time.