Ex-President Duterte will attend Senate probe on drug war — Bato

Former President Rodrigo Duterte has given Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa the assurance that he will attend the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's investigation into the previous administration's war against illegal drugs.

This, is according to Dela Rosa, Duterte's loyal ally and the ex-president's chief implementer of his war on drugs.

"The former President told me that he is going to attend the Senate hearing regardless of who is presiding," Dela Rosa told reporters in a Viber message.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, who will preside over the investigation, said they will send out invitations today including that for Duterte, retired Police Colonel Royina Garma, former National Police Commission commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, former Senator Leila de Lima, Kerwin Espinosa, and the families of drug war victims.

Initially, Pimentel said that they will only invite Duterte once the allegations against him are laid out.

But after his consultation with Dela Rosa, Pimentel said they will already invite Duterte in the first hearing on the drug war investigation.

The Senate panel will start the investigation on October 28.

The House of Representatives Quad Committee had conducted several hearings into the Duterte administration’s war on drugs where Go and Dela Rosa have been implicated in the alleged reward system for its nationwide implementation.

The allegations against Go, meanwhile, prompted him to call for a parallel investigation, which Dela Rosa backed.

Dela Rosa, who was national police chief during the Duterte administration, floated a parallel motu proprio investigation under the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, which he chairs.

Dela Rosa’s proposed investigation was declined by the Senate leadership with Senate President Francis Escudero citing the rule that only the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee can conduct motu proprio probes.

It was then agreed by Escudero, Go, and Dela Rosa that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will lead the investigation with Pimentel as the presiding officer as its chairperson, Senator Pia Cayetano, is attending an energy-related conference abroad. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News