DEPARTMENT of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla vowed on Monday, October 14, 2024, that there would be "no sacred cows" in the impending investigation on the alleged involvement of some police officials and officers in the supposed extrajudicial killings (EJKs) related to the bloody drug war of the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
In a press conference in Camp Crame, after he presided over a command conference with the Philippine National Police (PNP) top brass, Remulla said they are awaiting for the House quad-committee to finish its investigation on the possible link between the proliferation of illegal operations of Pogos, illegal drug trade, anomalous land acquisitions, and EJKs during the Duterte administration before they start they own probe.
“Well, I think we have to wait until the full revelations are announced. I think pretty soon, there will be corroborative testimonies that will abound. I think with their testimonies, some of the cold cases will be opened but again, let us wait until the final hearing and final recommendations of the quad-com are done and then subsequent actions will be taken but take it to light several cold cases are now being reopened but in advance of what she said, that is a developing matter, which we have to wait until the full testimonies are given,” Remulla said.
Remulla noted that testimonies given in Congress is done under oath and this can already be used by the police as an initial point of investigation as well as for the filing of charges.
“We have to understand that they are innocent until proven guilty. So we must not judge them already according to testimony. They have to go through the process. However, having said they are innocent until proven guilty, there are no sacred cows in this institution and in this investigation,” Remulla said.
“Anyone who is guilty, anyone who is found guilty, anyone will be treated like any other person. They will be accorded no special treatment. They will be accorded no special privileges. Everyone will face the full consequence of the law and the powers of the PNP and the institutions and the DILG,” he added.
For his part, PNP Chief General Rommel Marbil said they have formed a committee that will look particularly on the claims of retired Colonel Royina Garma.
He also urged the former chiefs of the PNP to speak up about the matter.
During the House of Representatives’ quad committee hearing on Friday, October 11, 2024, Garma emotionally read out her affidavit directly implicating Duterte in the EJKs carried out by the PNP from 2016 to the earlier months of 2022.
She said that through Colonel Edilberto Leonardo, the PNP was made to implement the "Davao model," which refers to an anti-illegal drugs system involving payments and rewards at three levels: a reward if the suspect is killed, funding for planned operations, and a refund of operational expenses.
Before tapping Leonardo, Garma said she was tapped by Duterte to find someone who could implement the Davao model, adding that the latter was the “perfect fit.”
Garma said Leonardo collaborated with Duterte and his aide, now Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, to establish a new task force comprising so-called “liquidators” across the country.
Over 6,000 alleged drug suspects were killed in the six-year term of Duterte.
Garma also presented a matrix suggesting that former PNP chiefs were aware of the covert operations under the drug war.
In a statement, former PNP chief retired General Guillermo Eleazar said he neither underwent a briefing nor received any instruction from anybody about a reward system in the conduct of anti-illegal drugs operations in his six-month tour of duty.
“And the only instruction I received from then President Duterte was ‘to do what is right and legal.’ I distinctly remember it because that was during my oathtaking as chief PNP, and that was the only time I personally talked with the former president as the head of the police organization,” said Elazar.
“That instruction served as my reason and motivation to submit the questionable police reports on anti-illegal drugs operations to the Department of Justice, to expedite the release and distribution of body-worn cameras, and to seek guidance from the Supreme Court for the protocol that each police officer must follow in recording drug-related operations in the spirit of transparency and accountability,” he added.
Eleazar said that even during the time when he assumed the third and second highest posts in the PNP and up to the time of his tour of duty as the chief PNP, the focus was more on the enforcement of health protocols and the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Former chief PNP now Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, the chief implementer of Duterte’s drug war, also earlier said that he is not aware of the rewards system as well as the matrix as claimed by Garma. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)