A former chief of police of Mandaluyong City claimed he was directed by at least two heads of the House Quad Committee to confirm the existence of a reward system that incentivized extrajudicial killings during the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
Police Col. Hector Grijaldo told the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee that he met with Quad Committee co-chairpersons Santa Rosa Rep. Dan Fernandez and Manila Rep. Benny Abante along with lawyers of retired police Col. Royina Garma on Oct. 22.
“Cong. Dan Fernandez put the paper he was holding on the table and told me, ‘This is the statement you will say,’ while pointing to the paragraph on the paper. He said, ‘This is the supplemental affidavit of Col. Garma. Just say you know the reward system. Just confirm it,’” Grijaldo said.
Garma earlier told the Quad Committee that former President Rodrigo Duterte and other high-ranking officials during his term operationalized the so-called “Davao model” of EJKs on a nationwide scale, rewarding cops for every drug suspect killed. She said the cash reward ranged from P20,000 to P1 million.
Grijaldo, a classmate of Garma at the Philippine National Police Academy, said he told Fernandez and Abante he had no personal experience of receiving any reward when he was still the police chief of Mandaluyong City.
Fernandez confirmed Grijaldo was summoned to a meeting, but said he was not forced to confirm Garma’s supplental affidavit.
“That’s all lies. He was summoned because the lawyer of Col. Garma told us Grijaldo knows about the reward system. We never asked him to sign any affidavit,” Fernandez said.
“This is their way to discredit the Quad Committee, but the truth will bail us out. Nothing will prevent us from pursuing justice for all the lives lost,” he said.
He said the Quad Committee will not take lightly Grijaldo’s statements at the Senate hearing.
“That’s their script…He should uphold what he said and its possible repercussions because for me, we will not take that sitting down,” he said.
“He said in his affidavit that he was coerced and harassed. That’s a huge accusation. And now we will do something, and this will be collective. Not just me or Cong. Abante but the whole of the Quad Comm because the integrity of the quad comm is at stake here,” Fernandez added.
