Lawmaker hopes Duterte, de la Rosa will attend House probe

SANTA Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez on Sunday said he hoped former president Rodrigo Duterte, Sen. Ronald de la Rosa, a former Philippine National Police chief, and Sen. Bong Go would attend the hearing being conducted by the House of Representatives' quad committee.

Fernandez chairs the Committee on Public Order and Safety, part of the quad panel.

«It has come to public attention that serious allegations have been made against former President Rodrigo Duterte and Sens. Bong Go and Bato de la Rosa in the Quad Comm probe, and given the gravity of these accusations, we hope they attend the hearings to address these claims directly,» Fernandez said.

In the quad committee's hearing last August 22, a prisoner, Leopoldo Tan Jr., linked Duterte to the 2016 killing of three Chinese drug convicts in the Davao Prison and Penal Farm.

Police Col. Jovie Espenido also exposed what he said was a reward system in the implementation of the Duterte administration's war on drugs.

Espenido, a key figure in the drug war, claimed that funds were funneled through Go.

De la Rosa, who led the Philippine National Police during the early years of the drug war, has been accused of instructing police officers to neutralize drug suspects, which has been interpreted as an order to kill.

Fernandez said the attendance of Duterte, de la Rosa and Go «would provide them a crucial platform to defend themselves and clarify their roles in the previous administration's anti-drug policies.»

De la Rosa had alleged that Espenido's affidavit was «concocted.»

Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., chairman of the House Committee on Human Rights, which is also a part of the quad committee, said Duterte, Go and de la Rosa should take the opportunity to defend their reputations.