House mega-panel to probe links of Duterte’s drug war to POGOs

MANILA, Philippines — A new body of four committees at the House of Representatives will investigate the "overlaps" between former President Rodrigo Duterte anti-illegal drugs campaign and Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), including allegations that officials were bribed with "drug money" to allow POGOs to secretly proliferate.

On Tuesday, the lower chamber passed House Resolution 1880 that combines four committees — namely, the committees on dangerous drugs, public order and safety, human rights and public accounts — to hold a single inquiry into the "criminal" web of POGOs, the illegal drug trade and corrupt officials facilitating Chinese nationals' illegal acquisitions.

Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Surigao del Norte, 2nd District), chair of the House dangerous drugs panel, summarized the interconnectedness of the issues in a sentence.

"There seems to be a criminal organization operating within the country where drugs or drug money is being used to corrupt certain government officials to secure fake and spurious documents to misrepresent themselves as Filipinos, to be able to acquire properties or lands in the country... which are used to build front and legitimate businesses, such as POGOs," Barbers said at a press conference.

The multi-committee panel aims to propose "remedial legislation" after holding its investigation, the first meeting of which will be held on August 15, Barbers added.

Expediting the probe

Rep. Dan Fernandez, chair of the House public order and safety committee, said the collaboration aims to address the time-consuming and inefficient nature of holding separate committee investigations for related issues.

"Basically, we really saw that all the issues are interconnected," Fernandez said.

"The primary objective of what we are doing is to fast-track the process so that we can see the laws we need to create, and at the same time, the recommendations of the four committees," the lawmaker said in a mix of English and Filipino.

House Speaker Martin Romualdez supported the creation of the mega-panel, Fernandez said.

"So basically, we are expediting the investigation and, as a matter of fact, that is our discussion with the speaker. This way, we can see what the real problems our country is facing," Fernandez added.

Duterte to be invited

The lawmakers also said that the mega-panel will invite former President Rodrigo Duterte to address the issues under his term. But it will not be a form of "political persecution," Barbers said.

Rep. Bienvenido Abante (Manila, 6th District), chair of the House human rights committee noted that the investigation will touch on issues that only the former president can shed light on.

The lawmaker noted that during the human rights committee's probe into the extrajudicial killings in Duterte's war on drugs, the number of deaths recorded by the Philippine National Police (7,000) was far below the estimate of the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), which was over 20,000. 

The investigation also found that police were following a reward system for drug-related killings. 

"Where did the reward money for police who kill come from? That's the question here. So we agreed that we should invite the former president to answer these issues because this concerns our national security and only he can address these," Abante said. 

Asked whether the human rights panel believes Duterte is "mastermind" of extra-judicial killings under his term, which former Sen. Leila de Lima said in the committee's last meeting, Abante refused to answer conclusively.

"We will cross the bridge when we get there," the lawmaker said.

"He's being accused by the NUPL... Even the Makabayan bloc has accused him to be the mastermind of this. So we're going to find out in our hearings," Abante said. — Cristina Chi