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Jude Josue Sabio

IN my conversation with Arturo Lascanas once at his secret safehouse, he revealed the information that a certain Supt. Royina Garma brought Supt. Marcos and his men directly to President Duterte in Malacanang. This was done without the knowledge, much less participation of PNP Chief de la Rosa.

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Arturo Lascanas said that Supt. Garma, who is a lady, has been for a long time a police from Davao, claiming that President Duterte and Supt. Garma have a deep personal relationship with each other.

As alleged, such high-level, special meeting was made in order for President Duterte to relay to Marcos an order to murder the late Mayor Espinos for a contract price of  P10 million.

Lascanas also alleged that Supt. Edilberto Leonardo is the pointman of President Duterte in the clandestine operations for extra-judicial executions and the reward system in the war on drugs. He alleged that Supt. Leonardo acted like SPO4 Sonny Buenaventura in the Davao Death Squad.

Based on media accounts, Sen. Trillanes appears to have validated this information from his reliable sources, revealing the Philippine Death Squad which was allegedly formed after Duterte became President, and mentioning the supposed key participation of Supt. Leonardo.

Significantly, Supts. Garma and Leonardo are two of those brought before the International Criminal Court for investigation. The legal theory in the ICC is that there is a mere continuation of the system of killing in the Davao Death Squad, which is confirmed by Sen. Trillanes in his recent revelation of the Philippine Death Squad.

After the Espinosa slay, Sen. de Lima revealed in media that a high official in Malacanang called up PNP Chief de la Rosa to reinstate Marcos. At first, fingers pointed at Bong Go who, of course, denied it. But later, strangely, President Duterte himself admitted that he was the one who called up PNP Chief de la Rosa.

Why did President Duterte order PNP Chief de la Rosa to reinstate Marcos? Did he not know that the reason for the suspension of Marcos by de la Rosa was that he was tagged in drug activities? Isn’t Duterte tough on drugs?

Recently, after having found murder against Marcos, the DOJ, all of a sudden, reduced the charge from murder to homicide, paving the way for Marcos and his men to post bail, as they did.

It is interesting to see senator-allies of President Duterte being contradicted by the DOJ which is controlled by the President through Secretary Aguirre who was the lawyer of Bienvenido Laud in the Avasola case involving the search warrant for the Laud quarry, the burial ground allegedly used by the Davao Death Squad.

Sen. Lacson previously said that the killing of Espinosa was a clear case of extra-judicial killing. Sen. Gordon also strongly recommended for murder charges against Marcos and his men.

The downgrading of the charge could not have taken place without the imprimatur of President Duterte. His previous actuations readily show how he has displayed special attention and protection to Marcos.

This perversion of justice shows President Duterte’s clear intention to cover up the criminal liability of his henchmen. Surely, he will also do the same thing in the information for crime against humanity brought before the International Criminal Court.

Just like what he is doing in the Espinosa case, President Duterte will also likely do a cover up of the criminal liability of the henchmen in the Davao Death Squad and the Philippine Death Squad.

President Duterte will protect, first and foremost, himself. As he once said, he will pardon himself.  By common sense, it cannot be reasonably expected anymore that the Duterte government will ever open an investigation, or much less conduct a “genuine” investigation into the extra-judicial executions in the war on drugs, especially since it will definitely involve the complicity of the President.

This foregone conclusion is compounded by the fact that the Human Rights Committee of Malacanang is made up of two highanking influential Duterte officals — Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre — who were lawyers of Bienvenido Laud of the Davao Death Squad.

To expect Duterte to comply with the demand of the 45 countries under the UN Human Rights Council for an investigation of the extra-judicial executions is unrealistic and wishful thinking.  As shown in the Espinosa case, no such investigation is possible with Duterte in power.

The downgrading of the charge in the Espinosa slay proves, once and for all, that there is no other way forward for attaining justice except for the International Criminal Court to open an investigation into the extra-judicial executions and the criminal liability of President Duterte. It is only a matter of time for it.

 

(Jude Josue L. Sabio is the lawyer from Misamis Oriental who filed a complaint against President Duterte in the International Criminal Court. The views he expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of this paper or any of its staff members.)

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