MANILA — Senator Richard “Dick” Gordon on Monday said that the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights has already finished the first draft of a committee report on the inquiry into extrajudicial killings.
“We have finished the first draft. We’ll go with the second draft hopefully as early as tomorrow (Tuesday) or as late as Wednesday. It will be (released) before the break,” Gordon told reporters in an interview.
Gordon did not reveal the contents of the committee report but said that the Senate panel will recommend the filing of charges against witness and self-confessed Davao Death Squad (DDS) hitman Edgar Matobato.
“He can be charged with perjury and murder because he admitted. We will submit it to proper authorities for proper disposition,” Gordon said.
The senator, however, said that he still does not trust the testimony of Matobato since it was riddled with “lies.”
Also included in the committee report will be recommendations to make it “easier” for wayward police officers to be charged, Gordon said.
“In the future it will be easier for them (police) to be charged,” the senator further said.
Asked if he believed that extrajudicial killings were state-sponsored, Gordon pointed out that killings began even before the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“If you look at our reports, there are many from 2010 to 2016. We are looking at the extrajudicial killings. There are many of them,” he said.
“Definitely, there are many killings. To be fair, there were many killings in the past that have not been solved. It only seems to be a fad now because our President is noisy,” he added.
Gordon also said that he believed that there are many police officers involved in killings but refused to describe them as state-sponsored or state-inspired killings, noting that the cops were “moving on their own.”
He meanwhile assured that President Duterte will be “safe” from any charges for now since the existence of extrajudicial killings related to the intensified anti-illegal drugs campaign and a DDS has not been proven. Azer Parrocha/PNA-northboundasia.com