Marcos urged to submit Garma and Espinosa statements to ICC

FILE PHOTO: Neri Colmenares, former congressman and Bayan Muna president. APPLICANT’S FILES

MANILA, Philippines — Human rights lawyer and former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares on Saturday urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to submit the affidavits of retired police colonel Royina Garma and Baron Kerwin Espinosa, drug lawyer, at the International Criminal Court (ICC). ).

This came after the recent developments during the hearings of the House of Representatives Quad Committee on Extrajudicial Killings (EJK), during which the two resource persons dropped the bombs.

According to Colmenares, ICC co-counsel in some cases of EJK victims, said the testimonies present a “systematic pattern” of human rights violations that cannot be ignored.

“President Marcos Jr. must act decisively to demonstrate that his administration does not allow impunity in protecting those responsible for these heinous crimes,” Colmenares said in a statement.

“He should hand over the testimonies of Garma and Espinosa to the ICC to ensure that (former President Rodrigo) Duterte and (former police chief Ronald) Dela Rosa are prosecuted,” Colmenares added.

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Garma revealed to the Quad committee on Friday that the Duterte administration had implemented a reward system for police officers involved in the killing of drug suspects. The reward system, according to the “Davao model,” varied between 20,000 and 1 million pesos per move.

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READ: Garma Says Davao Drug War Model, Rewards System Across PH

Meanwhile, Espinosa told lawmakers at the same quadruple committee hearing that Dela Rosa, now a senator, ordered him to implicate former senator Leila de Lima in illegal drug trafficking as part of the political demolition.

Espinosa retracted his statements against de Lima in April 2022, saying they were all false and simply the result of “pressure, coercion, intimidation and serious threats against his life and against members of his family from the police who asked him to implicate the senator in illegal activities.” drug trafficking. »

Furthermore, the former Bayan Muna representative also urged the Department of Justice to file serious duress charges against dela Rosa for using Espinosa’s testimony, adding that “what the Court will surely find more credible than the denial General dela Rosa. »

Colmenares also said Gen. Edilberto Leonardo, who was recently accused of being behind the murder of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office board secretary Wesley Barayuga, should be investigated.

He also called on Quad committee members to continue investigating human rights violations caused by the anti-drug war.

“We also call on the quad committee to ensure the presence of all those mentioned by Garma to find out the truth. Families saw some hope thanks to the Quad Committee’s investigation. We hope that the commission chairs will continue the search for justice to the end. » said Colménares.

Colmenares stressed that the families of EJK victims continue to seek justice from the ICC, but the former representative stressed that the perpetrators were careful not to leave any trace of evidence.

“It is difficult to file a complaint in our country because it is difficult to obtain evidence. There is no video surveillance, no police report and no investigation is carried out by the police. Even the prosecutors don’t want to file charges,” he said in pure Filipino during the mega panel hearing on Friday.

READ: War on drugs: the violence, the scars, the doubts and the families it left behind

The Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2018, shortly after the ICC launched an investigation into human rights violations committed during Duterte’s anti-drug war campaign.

Marcos has previously said he would not allow the ICC to conduct investigations into the country’s war on drugs.