Solons: Probe on drug war, POGOs won't compromise fight vs poverty

After Vice President Sara  Duterte claimed that the House of Representatives was more concerned with political attacks rather than addressing the country’s problems on poverty, education, and health, several lawmakers said on Tuesday that the investigation by four House committees into the drug war and Philippine  Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO)-related crimes would not diminish the government’s efforts to fight poverty and other social ills.

“These issues being looked into by the quadcom (quadruple committee) are very important issues," House Assistant  Majority Leader Mika Suansing said in a press conference.

"These are social ills brought by POGO, the  extrajudicial killings [committed during police’s anti-drug operations], illegal  drugs, human and sex trafficking. Napakalaking dagok po ang mga iyon sa  ating lipunan na kailangan nating tignan.”

Suansing emphasized that the investigations were not politically motivated.

"Because what is the bottom line here? Who are the mastermind/s behind these billions of illegal drugs circulating in our country?  Isipin na lang po natin itong bilyong-bilyong piso ng droga na umiikot,  ilang buhay po ng mga Pilipino ang masisira dahil rito. [But] we don’t  dismiss the poverty rate. We're working along, we are trying to work on  these [tasks] side by side as well.”

Suansing pointed out that government policies against poverty were working given that poverty incidence recently decreased from 18% to 15.5%. 

“That’s already 2.45 million Filipinos lifted out of poverty. This means that  hindi naman po dahil meron tayong mga hearings ng quadcom, hindi na  natin tinututukan itong mga ibang issues na ito. So, ang sinasabi po  namin, kaya nating tignan ‘yung usapin sa kahirapan, pero kaya at  kailangan rin po natin tutukan itong ibang mga social ills na tulad po  ng POGO, extrajudicial killings, as well as human and sex trafficking  crimes,” Suansing added.

In his testimony before the House investigation, former Customs Intelligence Officer Jimmy Guban linked VP Duterte's spouse Mans Carpio, her brother and Davao City lawmaker Paolo Duterte, and businessman and former economic adviser to President Rodrigo Duterte Michael Yang to the P11 billion worth of illegal drugs that slipped into the country in 2018. 

By the end of the first day of the quadcom’s probe, the House sought the appearance of Carpio, Duterte, and Yang before the investigating panel.

Carpio, Duterte, and Yang denied Guban’s allegations, but they had yet to say whether they would testify at the House probe.

“We are giving them the proper forum to clear their names," said Suansing. "We follow the evidence. And, if they are not guilty and they want to clarify something, this is their chance. To say these are politically motivated... it's the easiest way out. It's just easy to dismiss allegations, investigations are politically motivated. But there are testimonies under oath.”

Meanwhile, Lanao del Norte Representative Khalid Dimaporo said it was too early to conclude that the House probe was politically motivated.

“Only time will tell [if that is true]. If this will lead to cases,  there's substantial fact that wrong has been done, abuse of authority has been done, corruption has been done. That's not political motivation. That's [just] us doing our jobs,” Dimaporo said.

Fellow House Assistant Majority Leader and Nueva Ecija Rep. Jeff Khonghun backed Dimaporo, saying transparency and accountability were staples in governance.

“The former President and Vice President should answer the allegations. And if allegations are true, we must ensure that nobody is above the law,”  Khonghun said. — DVM, GMA Integrated News