The House Quad Committee will hold hearings even during the upcoming recess to allow lawmakers to get to the bottom of the interconnected issues of illegal offshore gambling, drug trade, money laundering, and extrajudicial killings (EJKs) during the previous Duterte administration.
This was according to Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido Abante, Jr., co-chairperson of the mega panel, citing the involvement of a ‘syndicate,’ which was allegedly linked to some Filipino generals, based on their investigation.
“Unless otherwise we disband and find within the Philippine National Police (PNP) the generals involved in drugs, the drug problem in the Philippines will not go away,” Abante said.
The Quad Comm carried out six marathon hearings thus far. The Manila lawmaker, who chairs the Committee on Human Rights, said it will take more time for them to reveal everything. They also want to wrap up as soon as possible before the campaign period starts.
“And we will finish this work because it is for our people and let them know what is happening. We do not want this to happen anymore, poor Philippines,” Abante said.
The Quad Comm is coming off its sixth hearing, which featured the explosive testimony of former Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog. Abante said their next hearing would focus on his revelations related to the problem of EJKs.
Abante took the liberty to identify the late Camilo Cascolan as the PNP general, who essentially saved Mabilog’s life by telling him not to come back to the Philippines amid his being included in then-president Rodrigo Duterte’s narco-list.
Cascolan’s advice came at the same time as then-PNP chief and now Senator Ronald dela Rosa’s prodding of Mabilog to return to the Philippines, so that the latter could supposedly help the beleaguered mayor.
Abante said that it was also Cascolan who claimed that Mabilog would be forced to implicate former senators Mar Roxas and Franklin Drilon in the illegal drug trade at the time of Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.
It’s very unfortunate, however, that Cascolan already passed away, meaning the Quad Comm can no longer hear his full side of the story, according to the lawmaker.
