Bong Go eyes parallel Senate probe into war on drugs

Senator Bong Go on Monday raised the idea of conducting a parallel Senate investigation into the Duterte administration's war on drugs to "find out the truth."

Go, former aide and loyal ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte, floated this idea amid what he called "baseless accusations" raised against him, Duterte, and former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief and now Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa in the ongoing House Quadcomm investigation into the matter.

"Kung kakailanganin po na mag-imbestiga rin po rito, ako naman kung ano lang yung katotohanan, the truth lang po," Go said in an ambush interview.

(If we need to investigate in the Senate, I will support it because all I want is to ferret out the truth.)

The senator said he would file a resolution calling for such an investigation "if necessary."

"I'm very much willing na mag-file din po ng resolusyon para magkaroon po ng investigation rin po dito sa Senado. Para malaman natin kung ano lang yung totoo... para magkaroon tayo ng parallel investigation," he said.

(I'm very much willing to file a resolution so the Senate can investigate it and so we can know the truth.)

Asked if the investigation would look into the allegations of former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Royina Garma, Go said, "Lahat na po, pangkalahatan."

(All issues related to the war on drugs.)

Last week, Garma testified in a QuadComm hearing that Duterte wanted to implement a "Davao model" of the war on drugs on a national scale. Duterte is a former Davao City mayor.

Garma said this system involves rewards, including prize money that ranged from P20,000 to P1 million, for drug suspects killed.

Go denied the existence of such system and refuted claims that he was involved in handling the money for the supposed rewards. He described Garma's claims as "unsubstantiated."

Go said his legal team is looking into the possible filing of charges against Garma. —KBK, GMA Integrated News