Former PCol Eduardo Acierto (in dark shirt) takes his oath via recorded Zoom during the 10th Quad Comm hearing held at the House of Representatives. INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON
One of the witnesses against former President Rodrigo Duterte in the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation of his alleged crimes against humanity in the drug war claimed that a P50-million bounty on his head was placed after implicating two Chinese friends of the ex-leader in the narcotics trade.
Former Police Col. Eduardo Acierto on Thursday told members of the House quad committee that Duterte and the former President鈥檚 close aide, Sen. Christopher 鈥淏ong鈥� Go, allegedly put out the bounty when he said in a report that Michael Yang and Allan Lim were involved in drugs.
Acierto was deputy director of the Drug Enforcement Unit of the Philippine National Police when he submitted his report in 2017 to then PNP chief and now Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, identifying Yang and Lim as main players in the illegal drug trade in the country.
READ: Acierto: Duterte ordered my arrest for knowing Michael Yang鈥檚 drug ties听
鈥淏ut instead of speaking to the person who prepared the report, he spoke to Allan Lim,鈥� he told the quad committee in his testimony via Zoom.
Acierto has been in hiding since he was dismissed from the service in 2018.
He said that when he gave the same report to then-Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director General Aaron Aquino, he was assured that it would be forwarded to Malaca帽ang. But Aquino subsequently said he could not remember to whom he submitted the report, according to Acierto.
Still no action
Dela Rosa鈥檚 successor, Oscar Albayalde, also took no action on the report and eventually tried to supposedly discredit it.
鈥淲hat they did was they slandered me, slandered my team,鈥� he told the lawmakers. 鈥淥ne of my co-workers who helped prepare the report was kidnapped, Capt. Lito Pirote, who remains missing. Another retired Master Sergeant (Alejandro Gerardo) Gerry Liwanag was shot and killed.鈥�
He said that he and former Police Director Ismael Fajardo were publicly vilified as 鈥渘inja cops鈥� by Duterte.
According to the Department of Justice in 2019, Malaca帽ang offered a P10-million bounty on him and other alleged 鈥渘inja cops,鈥� or police officers involved in drugs.
Yang and Lim, it turned out, were close to Duterte. Yang served briefly as a presidential economic adviser.
Closeness to Duterte, Go
Acierto said that Yang鈥檚 name first cropped up in the narcotics trade during the election campaign period in 2016, when the Chinese national was linked to two shipping containers loaded with chemicals used in the manufacture of 鈥渟habu鈥� (crystal meth) in Dumoy, Davao City, and Cagayan de Oro.
He found out that Yang was close to Duterte and Go when he saw a picture of the three aboard a private plane. Acierto confirmed another picture of Duterte with Yang and Lim.
He said that when his report on the two Chinese nationals could not be disputed, the former President publicly claimed that Acierto was involved in smuggling high-powered firearms and billions of pesos worth of shabu.
Duterte could not respond to Acierto鈥檚 allegations during Thursday鈥檚 quad committee hearing as he again snubbed its summons to appear as a 鈥渞esource person鈥� in its investigation of the thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in his drug war. There was no reaction from Go.
Is he afraid?
House leaders taunted the former President for supposedly chickening out of the inquiry.
Duterte did not appear during the quad committee鈥檚 Oct. 22 hearing, saying that he was not feeling well and would appear after Nov. 1.
鈥淚t is our view that former President Duterte was frightened of attending the Quad Comm hearing because he鈥檚 afraid to answer serious questions from House members and families of EJK victims seeking justice,鈥� Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe said in a joint statement with Assistant Majority Leader Francisco Paolo Ortega V.
Ortega pointed out that Duterte likely backed out to avoid intense questioning by congressmen on his antidrug campaign, which allegedly targeted only low-level drug offenders, and avoided investigations of administration allies and Chinese drug lords.
Lawyer in defense
Duterte鈥檚 lawyer, Martin Delgra, defended Duterte鈥檚 absence, saying in a Nov. 5 letter to quad committee lead chair Rep. Robert Ace Barbers that the ex-President鈥檚 presence was 鈥渘o longer necessary鈥� after he had appeared in the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee鈥檚 inquiry last week.
Duterte doubted the super panel inquiry鈥檚 integrity, independence, and probity. 鈥淚t is apparent that the inquiry is a mere political ploy aimed to indict him for crime or crimes he did not commit,鈥� Delgra said.
He claimed that quad committee cochairpersons Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. of Manila and Rep. Dan Fernandez of Laguna had prejudged Duterte鈥檚 liability under Republic Act No. 9851 on crimes against international humanitarian law, genocide, and other crimes against humanity.
Undue pressure
Delgra said Duterte was concerned over allegations that the committee tried to 鈥減ersuade, if not unduly pressure, resource persons to admit matters under oath they lack knowledge of or, [worse], unduly induce them to say something not true before the joint committee inquiry,鈥� which was subornation to perjury, a crime.
Assistant Majority Leader Zia Adiong said that Delgra should be invited to expound on his statements in the letter questioning the integrity of the quad committee and alleging subornation to perjury against two quad committee cochairpersons.
The committee approved Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop鈥檚 motion to invite Delgra to clarify his remarks.
Grijaldo must explain
The panel also ordered Police Col. Hector Grijaldo to explain why he should not be cited in contempt for failing to comply with its subpoena.
Grijaldo had testified in the Senate that Fernandez and Abante tried to coerce him to validate his Philippine National Police Academy classmate former Police Col. Royina Garma鈥檚 claims of a reward system in the drug war.
Fernandez and Abante denied Grijaldo鈥檚 claim. They said they invited him to the hearing as he was the Mandaluyong City police chief when state lottery secretary Wesley Barayuga was killed in July 2020.
Garma鈥檚 lawyers, Emerito Quilang and Rotciv Cumigad, attested in a joint statement that, 鈥淎t no point did any of the congressmen attempt to pressure Mr. Grijaldo into conforming to a predetermined narrative.鈥�