MANILA, Philippines – Former president Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday, November 13, effectively admitted to a House panel the reward system in his war on drugs but claimed the “for the boys” tip is not necessarily for killings but for “big crimes solved.”
“May reward kapag may big crime, solution kaagad, nagbibigay ako. Very natural sa mayor ‘yan, for the boys, ganoon (I give a reward for a big crime, and there’s already a solution. That’s very natural for a mayor — for the boys, like that),” Duterte said as he faced the House quad committee for the first time.
Surigao del Sur 2nd District Representative Johnny Pimentel had asked Duterte to confirm the testimonies of the panel’s previous witnesses, particularly retired colonel Royina Garma and Police Lieutenant Colonel Jovie Espenido, on the alleged reward system in the Duterte drug war.
Asked specifically about Espenido’s testimony that there was a minimum of P20,000 reward for every kill, Duterte said: “No, every crime that is solved, whether it is really, it resulted in a killing or nahuli, basta ‘yung droga, mainit ako, magbigay ako. It does not presuppose na magbayad ako ng P20,000 para patayin ang durogista.”
“Nagbibigay talaga ako, alam ng lahat ‘yan. I support the police, kung malaki ang nahuli nila, binibigyan ko sila ng tip, for the boys,” said Duterte.
(No, for every crime that is solved, whether it resulted in a killing or just apprehension, as long as it is drug-related, I’m hot on that issue, I will really give. It does not presuppose that I will pay P20,000 to kill a drug addict. I really give, everyone knows that. I support the police, if they caught a big fish, I give them a tip, for the boys.)
Duterte’s brutal war on drugs killed as many as 30,000, according to the estimate of human rights groups, and more than 7,000 of those were killed in legitimate police anti-drug operations.
The drug war and the alleged Davao Death Squad are being investigated at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity. The theory of Duterte’s critics is that the reward system goaded cops to kill arbitrarily, even staging nanlaban (fighting back) scenarios. In the Senate, Duterte admitted he goaded police to encourage suspects to fight back so cops can kill them.
Duterte had no qualms both in the Senate and in the House quad committee to describe how these “rewards” work, explaining that it was very common for him to give money especially for the operational expenses of last-minute police operations.
Were confidential funds used?
When Kabataan Representative Raoul Manuel started questioning the former president about the source of these rewards and whether the source were confidential and intelligence funds, Duterte got irritated.
Manuel started his interpellation by asking why a former Palace aide, Irmina “Moking” Espino, was entrusted with distributing funds to police, based on Garma’s affidavit. Espino worked at the Presidential Management Staff during the Duterte administration.
Duterte said he cannot be expected to go to the ground and give the cops the money himself. Asked about the budget line item where the money was sourced, Duterte said “peace and order funds.”
“Lahat ng opisina, sir, from the president, down to governors and mayors, may peace and order fund, discretionary ‘yan ng mayor, ng governor, ng presidente,” said Duterte.
(All of the offices, from the president, down to governors and mayors, have peace and order funds, that’s discretionary to the mayor, the governor and the president.)
Rappler checked the General Appropriation Fund (GAA) from 2017 to 2022, and there is no line item in the Office of the President budget for peace and order.
Manuel said the “closest” line item would be confidential and intelligence funds, which ballooned for the OP under Duterte’s term. In the 2019 GAA, the OP had an allocation of P5.5 million for “awards, rewards, and prizes.” That was the only year when the line item under OP existed.
“I will not answer that question,” Duterte said, when Manuel asked whether the peace and order funds were under the OP’s confidential and intelligence funds.
When Manuel insisted, a visibly peeved Duterte said, “Kaya tinawag na intelligence and confidential, kaya ‘wag ka magtanong ano confidential ginawa ko, confidential nga eh.” (That’s why its called intelligence and confidential, so don’t ask me about the confidential work I did, it’s confidential.)
“Do not make me account for something which I cannot do legally, that’s not allowed by law. I am prohibited from doing it,” said Duterte, adding that Manuel was not a state auditor anyway.
Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, is under scrutiny for P125 million worth of confidential funds for the Office of the Vice President in 2022. Part of this, or P73 million, has been subjected to a notice of disallowance (ND), or being asked to be refunded, by the Commission on Audit. One of the reasons of auditors’ notice are line items for rewards, too. – Rappler.com