MANILA, Philippines – As former president Rodrigo Duterte sparked fireworks during the House quad committee hearing on Wednesday, November 13, Mary Ann Domingo – whose husband and son were killed in a police operation during the drug war days – wept.
“Sa CR, umiiyak ako, naalala ko ‘yung mag-ama ko na para bang gusto kong humingi ng tawad sa kanila na hanggang dito lang ‘yung nagawa naming kalakasan,” Domingo said when she and the other mothers left the hearing past 9 pm.
(I was crying in the comfort room because I remembered my husband and my son, and I wanted to apologize to them about this being all that our strength has achieved.)
Duterte’s most-awaited testimony at the House of Representatives, where the former president was expected to be more intensely scrutinized, did not bring the joy that Domingo thought it would.
Instead, she said, she felt defeated.
“Para bang dapat masaya, kaya lang pakiramdam ko, naiyak na lang ako sa bandang huli — may hustisya pa rin ba? Dapat masaya akong nakaharap ko siya, dapat masaya ako na masasabi niya ang totoong ginawa niya, pero sa bandang huli parang talo pa rin kami,” Domingo said.
(I was supposed to be happy, but what I felt was, I just cried because at the end of it — is there really justice? I was supposed to be happy because I faced him, I was supposed to be happy because he can finally own up to what he did, but at the end of it, we still felt defeated.)
Domingo’s husband Luis and son Gabriel were killed in a police operation in 2016. Four Caloocan cops were convicted in June for the crime of homicide, a downgraded charge from murder.
That Duterte repeated, under oath, that he told police officers to goad suspects to fight back to justify their being killed — and that he rewarded police officers for solving big crimes — was frustrating, said Domingo.
“Inaamin niya paulit-ulit, ito na ba? Ito na ba ang hustisya?” asked Domingo. (He made repeated admissions, but is this it? Is this justice?)
‘This is like a dream’
Wednesday’s hearing had already been canceled, because the committee wanted more time to prepare. However, Duterte’s lawyer Salvador Panelo appeared to taunt legislators, telling them that the former president would show up, hearing or no hearing. Near midnight Tuesday, the quad committee re-invited resource persons, while journalists received notices that they should proceed to the venue the next day as planned.
Domingo and 21 other families of drug war victims arrived early at the People’s Center, where close to 200 people, including other relatives and advocates, held Mass led by priest Flavie Villanueva. While Villanueva, head of a sanctuary for drug war victims and their families, was giving his sermon, Duterte arrived through another door.
The former president was not bluffing about his attendance, and everyone started to prepare to start the most-awaited hearing. The committee chairpersons were ready. Former senator and justice secretary Leila de Lima — already seated and aware that Duterte’s name plate was next to hers — was also ready.
But not Dalia Cuartero, who lost her son Jesus in a 2019 police buy bust in Bulacan. She was crying when she went out of the Mass hall to proceed to the hearing room upstairs. “Hindi ko alam kung ano ang nararamdaman ko (I don’t know what I’m feeling),” Cuartero said.
When Cuartero took her seat just behind De Lima and their lawyer Kristina Conti, Duterte wasn’t yet in the room. As the room anticipated Duterte’s arrival, Cuartero got nervous even more. But this is our chance, said Khristine Pascual, mother of Joshua Laxamana, who was killed by police in 2018.
Pascual was more composed. “Malaking bagay sa amin ‘to, parang panaginip na marating namin ‘to. After six years, malay ba naming mapapansin pa kami,” said Pascual. (This is a big thing for us, this is like a dream to even get here. After six years, we didn’t know we’d still get noticed.)
The only thing that made her nervous, Pascual said, was the cold.
Fireworks in the House
While the mothers of drug war victims did get their chance to speak, the main character was unmistakably Duterte.
For starters, it was a test for the quad committee. Pressure was on them to be the better house, after their counterparts in the Senate underwhelmed or even frustrated spectators, who thought they helplessly allowed Duterte to take control of the proceedings.
Lawmakers appeared to be raring to show off their chops. 1-Rider Partylist Representative Rodge Gutierrez, who extracted Duterte’s admission that he indeed looked for an Iglesia ni Cristo cop to lead an operation, earned praises from former senator Panfilo Lacson who said the young lawmaker was “systematic and smart.”
Committee chairperson Ace Barbers called for many one-minute suspensions as it was often the only way to cut Duterte off, and to make sure the former president could not talk over interpellators, or go off the rail, or even curse.
“Overall I think we were able to elicit some information that will help us write our committee report,” Barbers said, who added that they now have sufficient details to establish whether there was a state policy to kill, to be rewarded for it, and if there were orders from higher-ups. “Not necessarily the president, but it could have come from the chief of police, or whoever,” said Barbers.
The most viral moments of the 12-hour hearing was Duterte’s interaction with two of his fiercest critics, former senators De Lima and Antonio Trillanes IV, whom the former president refused to call by their names.
Duterte gestured to punch De Lima, and then later threatened to throw the microphone at Trillanes. The Trillanes exchange even had lawyers from both sides standing up to calm everyone down.
At 4:30 pm, Vice President Sara Duterte arrived uninvited to show support for her father. She was even served an invitation to attend another hearing of the blue ribbon committee over her questionable spending both as education secretary and vice president.
There were other disruptions, such as the red-tagging by Duterte Youth Representative Drixie Cardema, and the taunting by her brother Ronald of former Bayan Muna representative Neri Colmenares. Barbers also scolded Duterte supporters in the room when they clapped and admonished Cardema.
Admissions
Duterte was flanked by four lawyers, all his former Cabinet members: Martin Delgra (former land transportation franchising and regulatory board chair), Silvestre Bello III (former labor secretary), Salvador Panelo (former chief legal counsel), and Salvador Medialdea (former executive secretary).
Bello and Delgra were the official lawyers on record, but Medialdea who was seated at the back would often talk to Delgra. They could also be heard suggesting answers, but Panelo was correct — Duterte does not need (or does not want) coaching, for better or for worse.
“Si Presidente Duterte hindi nagpi-prepara (President Duterte does not prepare), he speaks from the heart, speaks from his mind, speaks from his brain,” said Panelo.
That they have a stubborn client meant the lawyers needed to walk back some of his statements. For example, Duterte said he’d wish the International Criminal Court (ICC) would “hurry up” to investigate him, only for Medialdea to try to debate later on that the ICC has no jurisdiction.
Duterte, the former prosecutor, also knew when to walk back on his own answers. Batangas 2nd District Representative Gerville Luistro, after easing in Duterte, asked the former president point blank: “Are you making an extrajudicial admission of guilt?”
“Yes,” Duterte exclaimed, only to immediately say that none of the things he said are admissible in court.
“The so-called extrajudicial confessions made by him allegedly exist only in the minds of detractors, and those who cannot understand him, like you,” Panelo told this reporter, when asked if he advised his client against making incriminating statements.
Duterte told reporters after that one must know when he’s joking. But asked if he was joking when he said he would encourage cops to goad suspects to fight, the 79-year-old former president said: “Hindi joke, ayaw ko ng kriminal, one less criminal every day, maligaya na ‘ko diyan. (It’s not a joke, I don’t like criminals, one less criminal every day, I’d be happy with that.)
“Hindi naman ako ang pumatay, sinasabi ko lang, (I wasn’t the one who killed, I’m just the one who says it). Why would it incriminate me, upon what grounds? It might be improper, but certainly it was not unlawful,” said Duterte.
‘He knows he’d get away with it’
For Trillanes, “everything he does is performative, to show his audience he’s tough.”
For Domingo, it’s as simple as impunity.
“‘Yung humarap siya at umamin siya paulit-ulit na para bang wala siyang pagsisisi, pakiramdam ko sa huli’t huli, talo kami…Na hindi man lang [maharap] sa kaparusahan, dahil alam niya ‘yung nangyayari, at alam niya ang mangyayari sa kanya, kaya malakas ang loob niyang aminin na masama ang ginawa niyang kasalanan,” said Domingo.
(The way that he admitted again and again and showed no remorse, I felt that at the end of it, we’re still defeated. Because there’s no punishment, and he knows what is happening, and he knows what will happen to him, that’s why he’s confident to admit to his sins.)
In the evening, the hearing had pivoted to Trillanes’ old accusation that he has bank records to prove a massive money flow into the Duterte family’s bank accounts. This was what peeved Duterte, saying that “if there’s even an iota of truth to this, I will hang myself.”
These public challenges to sign a bank secrecy waiver have been ongoing since Duterte won as president, and this was rehashed at the quad committee on Wednesday, beginning with Deputy Speaker Jay-Jay Suarez asking Duterte to sign a waiver within the day.
“Ano pong kapalit? Sampalin ko siya sa publiko?” Duterte said, referring to Trillanes. (In exchange for what? I’d slap him in public?)
Kabataan Partylist Representative Raoul Manuel made that challenge again near midnight, but Duterte got annoyed and said he can “send [Manuel] to prison” just by his asking about it. Either the bank issue really got on Duterte’s nerves, or it had just been really a long day.
Even Manuel conceded “it was no longer a conducive” environment to continue. All the chairpersons were also already keen on terminating the hearing, and they said even Vice President Sara Duterte had already approached them to request to discharge her father for the day.
The hearing ended at 11:44 pm, which is even early by quad committee standards. “Nakakapagod (it’s so tiring),” said Barbers, “but we would need more hearings.”
The quad committee is open to spending for Duterte’s flights, as the former president earlier reasoned he cannot afford back-and-forth flights from Davao City to Manila. “Mabuti kung mayaman kami (it’s not like we are rich),” Duterte claimed.
The victims have the same dilemma. Those who are from the Visayas have not been attending the last hearings, and those from Metro Manila sacrifice a day’s work just to be at the House of Representatives.
Domingo said she will stick it out, because her son Gabriel also stuck it out. Gabriel did not leave his father’s side, as the entire family was dragged out from their homes and into the streets until they heard the gunshots that eventually killed the two.
“Kada naimbita ako laging pumapasok sa isip ko ‘yung mag-ama ko…Lalo na kapag naalala ko ‘yung aking anak na patuloy na sumasagi sa isip ko ‘yung pagmamakaawa niya, hindi mo dapat balewalain ‘yun eh, kailangan ko ipagpatuloy na ipaglaban sila,” said Domingo.
(Every time I am invited, I think of my husband and son. Especially when I remember my son whose pleading I cannot forget, I cannot just ignore that, I need to continue fighting for them.)
– Rappler.com
