MANUEL “MANNY” P. MOGATO is Editor-at-Large and opinion writer, writing under the column “In the Trenches.” As Reuters Manila correspondent, he and two other colleagues won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2018 for their coverage of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
Senators Ronald dela Rosa and Bong Go should inhibit themselves if and when the Senate decides to hold a parallel inquiry into the brutal and bloody drug war under the previous administration.
There is an apparent conflict of interest if the two senators, who were implicated in thousands of deaths related to Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, were to sit in an inquiry committee and question resource persons.
They could intimidate and threaten the resource persons.
They can also use the inquiry to defend themselves and make it appear there was nothing wrong with the extrajudicial killings to end the drug menace during Duterte’s six-year rule.
In the local courts, judges inhibit themselves when they have ties with litigants or anyone connected with a case that fell into their courts.
The fairness and impartiality of the two pro-Duterte senators would also be suspect.
Will the public expect Senators Go and dela Rosa to be kind to the resource persons if they will implicate them in wrongdoings, like coercing witnesses to falsely accuse an opposition lawmaker of involvement in the illegal drug trade?
At the House Quad Committee hearing, Kerwin Espinosa claimed he was threatened by the then Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald dela Rosa to admit he was a drug lord and named former Senator Leila de Lima as a protector of the country’s biggest illegal drug traders.
That was eight years ago when he appeared before a Senate investigation.
Espinosa was taking back his words, saying his life was in danger when he fabricated information against de Lima.
He pointed to dela Rosa, who coached him to say things against de Lima and admit his involvement in the drug trade.
All his drug cases had been dropped, although the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) still listed him as a drug lord.
Reacting to Espinosa’s latest testimony in the lower house, dela Rosa was fuming mad and threatened to punch Espinosa in the face, while giving a general denial of the serious accusation.
Could we expect dela Rosa to remain calm when he faces Espinosa at the Senate hearing next time?
The public had seen an angry dela Rosa confront a witness in an investigation into the offshore gaming operations (POGO) at the Senate.
In the same House hearing, a former police officer, Royina Garma, submitted a sworn statement detailing how a secret group was organized and funded to carry out the drug war on orders of the former president.
Garma said Senator Go’s office was directly involved in the drug war by sending funds to the secret group. Money was used to pay as a reward for drug personalities killed in anti-illegal drug operations.
A retired police general who used to serve as board chairman of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) said Senator Go was also linked to the death of another police general in 2020.
Anselmo Pinili told congressmen he informed Senator Go of details surrounding the murder of Wesley Barayuga, the former PCSO board secretary.
Pinili had privately investigated the death of Barayuga, his classmate at the Philippine Military Academy, and had suspicions on who was behind the assassination.
A police lieutenant colonel had earlier admitted to being part of a group that killed Barayuga but linked Garma and another police colonel, Edilberto Leonardo, to the murder.
Lawmakers believed Senator Go knew about the Barayuga murder and never lifted a finger to prosecute those behind the heinous crime.
The allegations against dela Rosa and Go are grave. They could be criminally liable for these acts.
There could be other wrongdoings.
For instance, dela Rosa and Go had to do a lot of explaining when they admitted Go had distributed only allowances and not rewards in the drug war.
Where did the money come from for the allowances that Senator Go had distributed to the police? How would Senator Bong Go explain these expenses to the Commission on Audit?
That’s why the two senators should inhibit themselves from the inquiry and allow other senators to grill witnesses and resource persons.
Watching and listening to Go and dela Rosa investigating witnesses against them is absurd.
Perhaps the two senators got used to what happened during Duterte’s time when the people in power disregarded the rule of law to crush political foes and public dissent.
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