The investigation yesterday of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on the war on drugs during the presidency of President Rodrigo Duterte was an orchestrated clown show designed to give Duterte a platform and venue to defend himself. It wasn’t a true fact-finding mission from the Senate but merely a charade for the few remaining allies of Duterte to help the former president.

At its inception, there were marks that the investigation to be conducted by the Senate was merely for show. One of the personalities deeply involved in the issue of the war on drugs, Senator Bato Dela Rosa, was the one who instigated the efforts of the Senate to conduct its investigation. How can the accused and one of the main figures on EJKs be the ones to conduct the investigation? How can the person implicated in the acts investigated, also investigate himself?

Furthermore, the investigation appeared more like a tightly scripted performance than a genuine effort by the Senate to find the truth. Duterte leveraged his “patriotic” narrative, casting himself as the guardian of national integrity. Yet, in a clear divergence from any authentic accountability, he failed to respond to the real investigation happening in the House Quad Committee investigating the same issue. Duterte chose to attend the Senate hearing instead of the Quad Comm, to which he has a standing invitation because he knows he can hide behind the façade of his senatorial allies. If Duterte truly is the man he talks himself to be, why hide behind the fake investigation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee? Why snob the investigation of the Quad Comm, who is the body truly invested in discovering the truth? Is he afraid that he will speak the truth when the congressmen pose their questions?

When Duterte goes off-camber, which he usually does given his bravado personality, he slips and tells the truth to the public that he was responsible for the drug-related killings during his presidency, and even during his time as mayor of Davao through the Davao Death Squad (DDS). He pointed to each police chief who attended the hearing saying that each of them were members of the DDS and all had to go through him. He was even proud of his instruction to kill and showed no remorse for it. He uttered “Ang sinabi ko ganito, prankahan tayo: Encourage the criminals to fight. Encourage them to draw their guns. Encourage them lumaban. Pagka lumaban patayin Ninyo para matapos na ang problema ko sa siyudad ko. Pagka presidente ko, ganon din sa command conference diyan sa Malacanan. Yan ang utos ko.”

It came from the horse’s mouth that as long as the “nanlaban” narrative is present and availing, policemen and even civilians are free to shoot and kill. What’s saddening is when Duterte uttered these words of bravado, it was met with cheers and applause by those people who attended the Senate hearing and are still blinded by the former president’s demonic ways. It was gut-wrenching to hear those cheers because the lives of thousands of innocent people were put in utter disregard because of the narrative of a known murder in Duterte, and some people still believe in his lies.

Even when Duterte admitted to the killings and ordered policemen and civilians to kill innocent people as long as they “nanlaban”, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chose not to ask questions to the former president about his statements. Only Risa Hontiveros was brave enough to ponder questions and make a genuine effort to know the truth. The committee chose to attack the people who helped EJK victims, like former Senator Leila De Lima who previously headed the Commission on Human Rights, and Fr. Flavie Villanueva who runs an organization that helps EJK victims.

All in all, these facts speak to the intention of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s investigation, that it is all a farce designed to give Duterte his platform to speak and ramble. It’s not a true fact-finding mission to investigate the truth behind the war on drugs, but rather an effort to destroy the efforts of the Quad Comm.

The Quad Comm is there who is tirelessly working to unearth the atrocities committed during Duterte’s time. For those who lost loved ones, delayed justice can feel like being denied justice—but they are not alone in seeking answers. The current obstacles like the Senate’s investigation may not last, and the truth will eventually come to light.

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