Quad comm postpones drug war probe; denies Duterte's confirmed attendance

Contrary to reports, the House quad committee denied receiving any confirmation from the camp of former president Rodrigo Duterte verifying his attendance in the next investigation into his notorious bloody anti-drug campaign.

The mega-panel was initially scheduled to hold its 11th probe today, Wednesday. However, after a week of contemplating, the committee decided to move it to 21 November, citing a lack of time to vet a set of new witnesses.

In a briefing on Tuesday, panel chairperson Ace Barbers said that as early as Monday, a notice of cancellation was sent out to the invited resource persons, including to Duterte’s legal counsel Martin Delgra III.

"We wrote to them, inviting them, then we also gave them a notice of cancellation via email, via Viber text messages, and all other forms of communication. We're waiting if there's a letter [from Duterte’s camp] [but] we receive nothing,” Barbers told reporters.

“In fact, we only found out that he was going because there was a lot of [reports] circulating on social media, but we already canceled,” he added.

Reports stated that the 79-year-old Duterte flew from his home town, Davao, to Manila to face his critics in the hearing.

Duterte repeatedly skipped the previous congressional probes, citing sickness and raising doubts about the committee’s intentions, calling it a “ploy aimed to indict him for crimes he did not commit.”

But the quadcomm invited him for the nth time, asserting the need to face the severe allegations leveled against him and justice for the victims of his bloody drug war.

Panel co-chairs and other House leaders even offered to cover Duterte and his entourage’s expenses, from airfare to accommodation, after the former president cited a lack of finances to attend the investigation.

According to Barbers, there was no formal response from Duterte's camp that he would appear on Wednesday and that reports from social media, particularly from the bloggers, alleging his attendance was not valid.

“[The hearing was already] canceled, and then suddenly [he] was going. That's not the process,” the chair lamented.

“There is a three-day ruling that is being followed by the committee. So, we need to be informed officially, not on social media. Everything [needs] to be official [because] it's a receipt,” quad comm co-chair Dan Fernandez chimed in.

Meanwhile, Zambales Rep. Jefferson Khonghun, a staunch critic of the Dutertes, stressed that this is merely another “budol” or scheme being employed by the former president.

“In other words, what they are doing is really propaganda, especially what they say by attending the committee hearing of the quadcomm. Filipinos are really confused with their statement,” Khonghun said in a same briefing.

Nevertheless, the lawmakers are keen that Duterte will finally face them on 21 November to address the mounting allegations about his anti-drug campaign.

Duterte, who admitted under oath in a Senate probe that he was the sole responsible for the massive killings of his war on drugs, faces intense scrutiny for reported human rights abuses, including the deaths of thousands, many from the poorest communities.

Duterte also explicitly said that he encouraged police to provoke drug suspects to fight back as a pretext to kill them.

The government lodged more than 7,000 deaths under Duterte's drug war. However, local and international human rights organizations estimated that the death toll exceeded 30,000, affecting predominantly low-income families and communities.