SENATE President Francis Escudero said on Friday the Blue Ribbon Committee would be the panel that could best handle the investigation into the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
Escudero also said he preferred that the inquiry start during the congressional break so the Senate could give its full attention to ongoing debates on the 2025 national budget.
The panel, whose official name is the Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations, is authorized to conduct motu proprio investigations even while Congress is in recess, he said.
Senate President Francis Escudero. PHOTOS BY J. GERARD SEGUIA
Escudero expressed his preference as Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa, former president Rodrigo Duterte’s national police chief, pressed for the inquiry to be conducted by the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, which he chairs.
Dela Rosa was planning to invite the former president to the hearing.
Sen. Bong Go, who was once Duterte’s special assistant, on Wednesday filed Senate Resolution 1217 directing Dela Rosa’s panel to conduct the inquiry.
As vice chairman of the committee, Go has defended Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, which he described as the bedrock of the Duterte administration.
“Our countrymen have seen the good results of the relentless campaign before. They return home safely to their families without being hurt or abused. The good things done in the past should only be continued where the criminals are feared and hunted, and the innocent live quietly,” Go said.
The campaign sparked allegations of human rights violations and abuse of power.
But Sen. Risa Hontiveros wants the Senate to act as a Committee of the Whole to handle the inquiry to encourage the drug war’s survivors, victims and their relatives to testify.
Another option is for the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, chaired by Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, to handle the probe when Congress resumes sessions next month.
Escudero said Dela Rosa had “agreed with my advice, so I am talking to our colleagues about the best way and committee to handle it.”
Go stressed that the probe seeks to strengthen law enforcement agencies further, provide more legal protection for uniformed personnel, establish more drug rehabilitation centers nationwide, and institutionalize the Anti-Drug Abuse Councils.
Statistics from the Department of the Interior and Local Government show that the country’s crime rate dropped by a staggering 73.76 percent during the first five years of Duterte’s term.
In Publicus Asia’s survey in 2022, Duterte had a 67.2 percent approval and a 61.2 percent trust rating, up from the previous year.
A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey in June 2022 found that 88 percent of Filipinos were satisfied with Duterte’s leadership, a rare feat for a president at the end of his term.
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