House of Representatives Minority Leader and 4Ps party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan yesterday urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to order the creation of an independent fact-finding commission to investigate extrajudicial killings (EJKs) associated with the previous administration’s controversial war on drugs.
“We urge the President to form a panel—similar to the Agrava Fact-Finding Board—that will probe the summary killings and identify all individuals who may be held criminally liable,” Libanan said.
“Just like the Agrava board, the proposed commission should be independent from the legislative and executive branches of government… It should consist of distinguished individuals who are highly regarded for their fairness and impartiality and who are not politically aligned,” he added.
Libanan, a lawyer by profession, served as chairperson of the House Committee on Justice when he represented Eastern Samar’s lone congressional district.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin earlier said the Marcos administration “places the highest importance on the fair dispensation of justice and on the universal observance of rule of law” in the ongoing investigations into the summary execution of drug suspects.
The five-member Agrava Fact-Finding Board investigated the August 21, 1983 assassination of former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. at the Manila International Airport.
It was chaired by the country’s first woman judge, retired appellate court Justice Corazon Agrava, alongside lawyer Luciano Salazar, businessman Dante Santos, educator Amado Dizon, and labor leader Ernesto Herrera, who was later elected senator.
The Agrava Board’s majority report found 25 military officers and men, and a civilian as responsible for the assasination of the opposition leader and his alleged gunman. They were charged with double murder but were later acquitted by the Sandiganbayan in 1985.
The Supreme Court however reversed the Sandiganbayan ruling and ordered a new trial.which led to the conviction of 16 of the accused.
Meanwhile, House Quad Committee (QuadComm) lead chair and Surigao del Norte lawmaker Ace Barbers said yesterday that the committee could issue next week a partial report on the probe of the Duterte Administration’s drug war.
Barbers said the report will include a recommendation of filing criminal charges against individuals who killed drug suspects and personalities.
“The report is partial, and only based on the evidence we are in possession of. For one, the killing of three Chinese individuals convicted of drug charges in Davao Penal Colony. [Retired] Colonel [Royina] Garma also mentioned details that could be included in the partial committee report. The Barayuga case will also be included, given that the PNP Chief [Rommel Marbil] already ordered the reinvestigation of that case,” Barbers said.
Barbers, however, said the the QuadComm has not decided yet if the partial committee report will already include the testimony of Garma wherein she claimed that President Rodrigo Duterte implemented a Davao model on the war on drugs, one in which rewards are given to the killing of drug suspects ranging from P20,000 to P1 million per drug suspect killed.
“Let’s just wait for the final version of our partial committee report because we still have to refer to the affidavits, testimony that we are reviewing right now,” Barbers said.
