SolGen Guevarra on the ‘rewards’ of the drug war: There were rumors but no witnesses

Attorney General Menardo Guevarra said Wednesday that there were rumors about the alleged reward system for murdered drug suspects during the previous administration, but no witnesses came forward to confirm it.

“May I talk about it, but maybe it’s the case that those who came forward to talk about a system that was initiated by, you know, people who might be planning,” Guevarra said in a Balitanghali interview.

(It was rumored, but no real witness came forward to say that such a system did indeed exist, initiated by people at the top, so you can say it was a plan.)

Guevarra served as secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ) under former President Rodrigo Duterte.

The reward system was exposed during a House Quad Committee (QuadComm) hearing by Royina Garma, former general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

Garma, a retired police colonel, testified that Duterte asked her to look for a police officer who could implement the “Davao model” of the drug war on a national scale. The Davao model, she said, referred to a “system that includes payments and rewards.”

Meanwhile, Guevarra said the DOJ also conducted a drug war investigation under his leadership, but it was aborted during the leadership change from Duterte to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

“Inaasahan takes the DOJ to the law enforcement agencies and the imbestigasyon and the Secretary of Justice to the Madali na ngayon and may initiate an investigation by QuadComm and nakakakalap na ng bagong ebidensya na hindi lumilitaw nung nakaraang administrasyon,” he said.

(We hope that the DOJ and other law enforcement agencies will continue our investigation when I was Attorney General, as it is easier for them now because QuadComm has collected new evidence that was not made public during the previous administration.)

QuadComm hears enough

Guevarra said he believes the QuadComm hearings were sufficient reason for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to drop its investigation into the Duterte administration’s drug war.

“A hindi na talaga pwedeng may exercise ICC jurisdiction over us,” he said.

(First, the ICC can no longer exercise jurisdiction over us.)

Under Duterte, the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, in 2019 after the tribunal began an investigation into his drug war.

Amid calls to return to the tribunal following Garma’s testimony, Malacañang recently said the Philippines would maintain its position and not rejoin the ICC.

Guevarra also welcomed the QuadComm probe, calling it a “very good thing.”

“They are doing exactly what the ICC prosecutor intended to do, which is to co-conduct investigation (if they want to conduct an investigation here),” he said.

“So it is a very positive thing after a legislative investigation… a close, more or less lumalim and kanilang investigation could play a role in the so-called drug war that is dissolving the lumalabas,” he added.

(It is very positive that the legislative inquiry… has more or less led to a deeper investigation, so that the things that happened during the so-called drug war are now slowly coming to light.)

Guevarra said it is highly likely that the ICC will monitor the hearings.

About 6,200 drug suspects were killed during the Duterte administration’s anti-drug operations, according to government data. However, human rights groups say the number could be as high as 30,000 due to the unreported killings. —KBK, GMA integrated news