Former president Rodrigo Duterte questioned what he called an “anomaly” of allowing former police colonel Eduardo Acierto to participate in the Nov. 13 hearing of the House quad committee via Zoom, a video conferencing platform.
“Dapat ho dito, if that person, if he has something to say against or for anybody, must be required to attend here and tell the story,” said the 79-year-old Duterte, who appeared at the committee for the first time after ignoring at least four invitations to do so.
“Mahirap ho ‘yan because that is not a standard, a fair standard of justice,” the former president, who has admitted to killing suspected criminals on sight, grumbled.
Acierto, former deputy director for administration of the Philippine National Police-Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG), has been in hiding since 2019 after alleging in a 2018 report that then-president Duterte’s economic adviser Michael Yang and a certain Allan Lim were involved in a clandestine drug laboratory that his team raided in Davao City. But he said the PNP and Duterte’s then-special assistant, now Sen. Bong Go, ignored his report.
“Gusto nila kaming patayin dahil sa nadiskubre naming involvement ni Michael Yang and Allan Lim. Actually, kinasuhan nila ako, meron akong warrant of arrest, merong nakapatong sa akin na P10 o P50 million para mapatay nila ako,” Acierto told the quad committee in its 10th hearing on Nov. 7.
Duterte said Acierto should be physically present in the committee hearing and tell his story. “Pagkatapos [ng hearing] tapos na ang istorya. So, his story becomes gospel truth. What about mga tao na tinatamaan niya o hinde. How can you now confront and ask question[s]? How can you now redeem your name, your honor, if hayaan mo lang ganoon ‘yung kanyang testimony? He must be required to attend,” Duterte demanded.
Acierto told the committee, “Ako po ay nagtatago dahil ako po ay ipinapapatay ni dating pangulong Duterte dahil sa ginawa kong report tungkol kay Michael Yang at Allan Lim.”
Duterte shot back: “Eh, kung ipinapatay kita bakit buhay ka pa ngayon? Bugok ka pala, eh.”
When TGP party-list Rep. Jose “Bong” Teves Jr. asked the former president if he was aware of the alleged involvement of his son Rep. Paolo Duterte, son-in-law Manases Carpio and Yang in the P1-billion worth of shabu found concealed in magnetic filters at the Port of Manila in 2018 and the foiled smuggling of P6.4-billion worth of shabu from China in 2017, Duterte said that if the incidents indeed happened, cases should be filed in court.
“File a case, and I’m urging the prosecutors to do their best to file a case in court. That is the remedy unless patayin natin. But that is not … anak ko. The best remedy really is to go public, expose them and file the case in court … so that they will be made answerable for their misdeeds on this planet,” he told the committee.
Last Aug. 16, Jimmy Guban, a former intelligence officer at the Bureau of Customs (BoC) who has been indicted in connection with the drug shipment, temporarily came out of detention and testified about the shabu shipment.
Rep. Duterte has issued a statement saying Guban’s testimony should be dismissed for being baseless. Carpio said the allegations against him were “politically motivated.”
Last July 31, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV filed drug smuggling and graft complaints before the Department of Justice against Rep. Duterte, Carpio and former customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, among others, over the P6.4-billion shabu shipment that was seized in 2017.
They were accused of violating Section 4 in relation to Section 26(a) of Republic Act (RA) 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 as amended by RA 10640, as well as RA 3019 or The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
When Teves asked during the hearing if he could ask questions to Acierto, who was online, Duterte asked if Guban was around. “They must come here and testify in person; ‘wag ‘yang Zoom na Zoom. Hindi pwede ‘yang Zoom na Zoom because that is not a standard of justice. Hindi pwede ‘yang ganon,” he protested.
Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, the lead chairman of the four House committees conducting the probe on the interlocking issues of illegal drugs, online gaming operators, extrajudicial killings and Chinese syndicates, explained that the House rules allowed the virtual participation of resource persons via Zoom.
“You know, ang pangalan ng anak ko pati ‘yang son in law ko… so I will object. Bakit tayo mag-Zoom Zoom dito? Dalhin mo dito ‘yung tao. Give the names of those persons to the committee so that they can subpoena the idiots. They’re there or dalhin mo dito, paupuin mo so that the committee members and the chairman can ask questions,” Duterte said.
He continued: “You have to satisfy the requirements of the law or regulation. Tell us why you are not here. Are you sick? Are you half dead? Are you incapacitated? Because you will deprive the other parties participating in this hearing the right to answer or [ask] questions.”
There you go. While Duterte demands a “fair standard of justice” for his family members and friends, he has completely ignored the constitutionally guaranteed due process and other fundamental rights for others.
The former president has admitted to killing suspected criminals and encouraging police officers to arm them when they refuse to fight back.
In August 2017, the then-president said, “You know, when I say I’ll shoot them dead, I’d prefer they’d shoot them in the heart and in the head.”
A year before that, he said: “That’s why my order is shoot to kill. Wala akong pakialam d’yan sa human rights. Believe me, I don’t give a shit kung anong gusto nilang sabihin.”
Clearly, while Duterte disregards the rights of others, he demands a different set of standards for members of his family and friends.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
This column also appeared in The Manila Times.
