Says willing to attend House, Senate hearings

Former President Rodrigo Duterte denied ordering the implementation of a cash reward system for every successful kill during his administration’s bloody war on drugs.

“No cop would enter such an arrangement. They will be put behind bars. Why would they accept that kind of agreement when it will later on bring their downfall? There is no such reward system. I did not give any reward,” Duterte said in an interview with SMNI.

He also belied ordering the police to murder drug suspects despite the 6,000 people killed in anti-drug operations during his term based on official records.

Prosecutors of the International Criminal Court, however, estimate the death toll at between 12,000 and 30,000

“This was my direct order to them: Find them (drug suspects) and arrest them. Bring them to me. But if they fight back, and if you see your life is in danger, kill them. I would not want to see a cop dead instead of a criminal,” Duterte said.

Duterte also said he is ready to attend hearings in the House Quad Committee and in the Senate on alleged drug war-related extrajudicial killings.

“I would be happy to appear in both the Upper and the Lower houses of Congress,” he said.

Retired police colonel and former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma earlier testified before the House Quad Committee that Duterte ordered the implementation “on a national scale” of the so-called “Davao template” that rewarded cops for every drug suspect killed.

Garma revealed three modes of payment or rewards: first, for every suspect killed; second for the planned operations; and third, for the refund of operational expenses.

Police Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido also testified that a scheme of payouts to hitmen neutralizing or killing drug suspects existed, with funds flowing from the level of Duterte’s former special adviser and now Senator Bong Go.

Go as well as Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who served as Philippine National Police chief during Duterte’s term, have both denied involvement in the drug war reward scheme.

Dela Rosa, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, earlier said he wants to conduct a separate probe into the drug war during the time of Duterte.

Go said he is also willing to investigate the allegations of cash incentives for cops.

Senate President Francis Escudero, however, said any investigation on the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs should not be led by either Dela Rosa or Go as they were implicated in the alleged reward system that incentivized EJKs of drug suspects.

Escudero said he will consult his colleagues on the possibility of forming a committee instead to investigate the controversial war on drugs following a suggestion by Senator Risa Hontiveros to convene the Senate Committee of the Whole.

Escudero said while the Committee of the Whole is an option, he is also considering assigning the investigation to another committee—one outside of Dela Rosa’s jurisdiction.