Talk of the reward system during the war on drugs in the Duterte administration had been circulating, but there were no witnesses to confirm it, according to Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra.
“There were rumors about it, but there was no actual witness who came forward to say there was indeed such a system initiated by people at the top,” Guevarra said.
Guevarra was the secretary of the Department of Justice (DoJ) during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The reward system was revealed by former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma during a recent House Quad Committee hearing.
Garma, a retired police colonel, testified that Duterte asked her to look for a police officer who could implement the “Davao model” of the drug war on a national scale. The Davao model, she said, referred to a “system involving payments and rewards” for the killing of drug suspects.
Guevarra said the DoJ under his leadership conducted an investigation into the drug war but this was cut short during the change of leadership from Duterte to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
He hoped the DoJ and other law enforcement agencies would continue the investigation which should now be easier after the House Quadcom obtained new evidence that didn’t come out during the previous administration.
Guevarra said he believes the Quadcom hearings are sufficient reason for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to end its investigation into the Duterte administration’s drug war.
“Firstly, the ICC can no longer exercise jurisdiction over us,” he said.
In 2019, the Philippines under Duterte withdrew from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, after the tribunal began a probe into the drug war.
Malacañang, amid calls to return to the tribunal following Garma’s testimony, recently said the Philippines would maintain its position and not rejoin the ICC.
The Quadcom probe, Guevarra said, is a “very good thing.”
“They’re doing exactly what the ICC prosecutor intended to do if they were to conduct an investigation here,” he said.