QuadComm to probe alleged use of intel fund for 'rewards' for drug killings

The House Quad Committee will investigate the alleged use of the intelligence fund of then President Rodrigo Duterte for the previous administration's war on drugs, House public order and safety chairperson and Laguna Representative Dan Fernandez said Tuesday.

The committee will look into whether the said intel fund was used for supposed rewards for drug killings.

Fernandez made the statement in the aftermath of the revelations of retired police colonel Royina Garma that it was Duterte who ordered the execution of the said “Davao model” of reward system for killers. Garma also said that the payment of rewards in the anti-drug operations of the police involved then Special Assistant to the President Bong Go; an alias Muking from the Presidential Management Staff; an alias Pedro who worked at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group; and then National Police Commission (Napolcom) Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo who facilitated the payment of rewards.

“Lumabas lang ‘yan nu'ng nasabi ni Royina Garma na nanggagaling ang pera sa Malacañang. Kung nanggaling sa Malacañang ang pondo at operation ito ng police, manggagaling ito sa intel fund. Kung police operation o kaya military operation, gagamit ka ng intel fund,” Fernandez told reporters in an online press conference.

(The need to probe the intel fund emerged because Garma said the money came from Malacañang [Office of the President]. If it is from Malacañang, then it was sourced from the intel fund. You use intel funds for police and military operations to begin with.)

“So we need to find out saan talaga kinuha 'yung pera. And we're pretty sure doon sa intel fund [ng President]. ‘Yun ang titignan natin ngayon: how the money, especially the intel fund of the Office of the President, was used for this purpose,” Fernandez added.

(So we need to find out the source of funding for these 'rewards' for kills. And we're pretty sure it came from an intel fund. That is what we are looking at right now.)

Fernandez said the committee has come across information showing that a huge amount of Duterte’s intel fund was used within certain months.

“Parang medyo malaki 'yung nagamit. Iyon ang isang magandang imbestigahan kasi nga ang intel fund ng mga LGU and even the Office of the President, the liquidation process is not so strict because it is precisely an intel fund,” Fernandez said.

(It appears a huge chunk of intel fund was used. That is what we need to investigate because with intel funds, whether of the local government units or even the Office of the President, the liquidation process is not so strict.)

In 2015, the Commission on Audit, Department of Budget and Management, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of National Defense, and the Governance Commission for Government Owned and Controlled Corporations issued a  joint circular stating that the intelligence fund is for expenses "related to intelligence information gathering activities of uniformed and military personnel and intelligence practitioners that have direct impact to national security."

While intelligence funds are subject to the audit of the Commission on Audit (COA), these findings are not released to the public.

“Nagagamit [iyong intel fund] without undergoing the usual liquidation processes applicable to a regular fund when even a receipt of a ballpen purchased must be presented,” Fernandez added.

In addition, Fernandez dismissed the comments of former President Duterte’s allies, Senators Ronald dela Rosa and Bong Go, that the House Quad Comm is a tool for a demolition job and are pressuring witnesses like Garma to put Duterte and his allies in a bad light.

“Ba't mo sila pipilitin? Kung pipilitin mo sila, suddenly, the next hearing, magsasalita sila [agad] ng iba. Saan tayo pupulutin du'n? If somebody really wanted to talk, wanted to say something, mag-affidavit kayo. Walang pilitan sa paggawa ng affidavit,” Fernandez said.

(Why force them? If you force them, they will easily change their testimony at the next hearing. Where would we end up with that? If somebody really wanted to talk, wanted to say something, we tell them to execute an affidavit. No one is forced to execute an affidavit.)

Aside from Garma, Police Lieutenant Colonel Jovie Espenido also said that during the Duterte presidency, the police were required to visit 50 to 100 households of suspected drug users and traffickers a day and were rewarded P100,000 for successful drug busts.

In addition, persons deprived of liberty Fernando Magdadaro and Leopoldo Tan Jr. pointed to Duterte as the one who issued a kill order for three Chinese inmates convicted of drug charges and detained in Davao Prison and Penal Colony.

“'Yung kanilang accusation that ito po ay demolition job sa kanila, hindi po siya demolition job. These are the evidences speaking right now,” Fernandez added.

(With regard to their accusation that this is a demolition job, it is not a demolition job. )

'Sufficient funding' for drug war 

Responding to Fernandez, Duterte’s former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said police operations in the war on drugs involved “sufficient” government funding.

“One cannot launch a successful war on drugs without an effective legal strategy to neutralize the drug cartel and organized crime, which necessarily will involve funding from the government,” Panelo told GMA News Online.

Panelo did not specify if the funding derived from the intelligence fund or from other sources. 

 “Police operations must be sufficiently financed for effective enforcement of the laws against illegal drug trafficking,” the lawyer added.

Panelo reiterated the Duterte administration did not give reward money to police officials in exchange for killing drug suspects.

“When former president Duterte declared war on drugs and made a statement that he would kill those involved in illegal drugs, he was making a commitment and a policy statement that he would pursue them to the ends of the earth — to prosecute and put them behind bars — which he did during his incumbency — resulting to its almost total destruction that brought security and peace of mind to the citizenry,” Panelo said.

 “As President, he (Duterte) did not renege from his sacred pact with the people and he executed his pledge to the fullest constitutionally permissible,” he said.

Panelo however earlier denied the existence of a reward system for police officials who kill drug suspects, saying it is just a product of Garma's imagination. —KG/RF, GMA Integrated News